Trigon Apotheosis
by OceanLord
Summary: Raven and Beast Boy have reunited to establish the third incarnation of the Teen Titans team. In a world under alien indoctrination they have found unlikely allies in Mad Mod and Fixit, but is it too late to still rescue the others? Sequal to Half-Life
1. Point Insertion part 1

This is the sequal to my other Teen Titans story, "Half Life." I do suggest you read that one first.

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Teen Titans: Trigon Apotheosis

Chapter 1 – Point Insertion (part 1)

There had been times when Raven glimpsed a stream of movement in the corner of her eye as if someone were walking straight up to her, ready to reach out to her. It was always just within the margin of her peripheral eyesight, enough for her to notice, but never enough to observe any detail. When it happened, her head would snap to the side, her mouth ready with questions about where she was. But each time, there was nothing there, never anything here.

Raven found herself incapable of perceiving anything in this place, including her own body. She could touch her body and distinguish each individual limb and part, and even as her brain stimulated the muscles in her arms and commanded them to move, of that she was expressively discerning, still not once could she see perceive anything beyond this veil that masked everything, portraying everything around her as an empty void.

Is this what death was like?

Her mind said yes, but her heart was still defiant, claiming life as it continued to pulse beneath her skin.

When it had happened, when the dome of lava had fallen upon her and all of the Teen Titans, burning their existences away in their final moments of life, she had supported Knives' head in her lap, desperately grasping for a few more moments together before everything was lost.

Even now, in this place, the sensation of where Knives' head had been propped against her thigh lingered on her skin as if it had been branded there. She considered an urge to call out his name again but remembered that she had given up on that for quite some time now as it was undoubtedly useless. How long had it been since she'd made that decision? It was difficult to accurately quantify it into a measurable unit of time.

So she waited.

Not that she had any other choice in the matter anyway.

Raven wished she knew exactly what she was waiting for. Would the Grimm Reaper appear, scythe in hand, to carry her across the river of Styx? Did the pearl gates of heaven suddenly open to shine their holy radiance upon her as St. Peter beckoned to her from inside? Or would hell suddenly tear open beneath her, allowing countless demons to claw madly at her heals and drag her down below to ultimately suffer in its undying fires for eternity?

Raven figured the last scenario had the most possibility. After all, she was half demon and the daughter of one of the most sadistic devils in existence. Why wouldn't hell already have a spot put aside in her honor?

Suddenly there was a bright burst of light in Raven's eyes, as if uninhibited daylight filled the surrounding area. It didn't come from a single source, but all around in synchronicity. Raven squeezed her eyes shut against this new assault of brilliance, a grumble of displeasure at the suddenness of it all. It proved unnecessary, however, since her eyes somehow were able to immediately adjust to the light.

She was bewildered when, upon opening her eyes, still could not make out any trace of her physical body. The sensation of having a physical form was there, but it was still invisible to her eyes.

Despite the endless landscape of illumination, a figure approached Raven as if walking out from a concealed hallow hidden in shadow. It was a woman judging from the outline of her body, but Raven couldn't make out any distinguishing features from this distance.

"It's about time." A phrase Raven was just about ready to speak, but found she could not control her voice, all she could manage was to stand there breathing air that probably didn't exist in this place.

"Time, Raven. Is it really that time?" The voice was filled with a calm serenity, a rhythm with both dignity and purpose. Yet there existed an underlying quality in it that Raven couldn't resist a growing sense of discomfort and anxiety; whoever had said it was a person to fear as well as respect

"It appears you've accomplished much in your short time on Earth. So much so, I have decided to intercede on your behalf for the purpose of enlisting your services. Normally, I wouldn't consider this, but these are extraordinary times."

She appeared to be walking towards Raven, but was able to close the distance far too quickly for that to be the case.

"I must apologize for what must seem an inopportune intrusion. I trust everything will become clear in its own time."

Even though the woman stood yet but a few feet from Raven, her facial profile was blurred, as if suffering from some unforeseeable interference. Even so, Raven still was able to come away with some astute observations.

The woman stood around five and a half feet tall, a very wiry frame with skin the color of onyx, possibly even just a deep shade of purple. The finishing touch was a breastplate of heavy looking chain mail, which rattled with every step, and a black cloak that waved slightly in some nonexistent wind.

"So," she reached out and placed her hand upon Raven's forehead. "Wake up, Raven. Wake up and smell the ashes."

The woman's form dissolved into a mist at the same time as Raven became aware of a rhythmic thumping sound and the feeling of her body being gently vibrated to the tune of the pulsing music.

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Raven blinked. When she did, the infinite expanse of the luminous void vanished behind her eyes. A train whistle blew from some distance ahead of her and the gentle vibrations were the wheels of the train as the metal rails underneath guided them. Inside the train car were two other individuals, both garbed in similar clothes: blue pocket-less denim pants and long sleeve shirts whose original color had been over-washed and bleached beyond recognition.

Raven stepped over to the closer of the two men, intent on asking where the train was headed. The guy must've heard her because his head panned until he was looking directly at her. His eyes were sunken into his skull with prominent rings under them as well; he looked like he hadn't slept in days and his body was slumped over under the weight of his own shoulders.

"I didn't see you get on," the man said nonchalantly, with only the slightest hint of curiosity.

Raven peered out through windows thick with dirt and fingerprints, also noticing that the windows were welded shut in a very inelegant and sloppy manner. Whoever had done it didn't care about appearance, but on just getting the job done as fast as possible using whatever was on hand. The melted head of a monkey wrench held one window permanently in place by the sliding lock.

Outside the train, almost close enough to touch, they passed by and through a massive train graveyard where numerous engines and cars sat lifelessly upon long neglected rails, rusting away in the mid-afternoon sun.

Raven couldn't recall hearing anything about a trash yard existing in Jump City, and was positive there wasn't one either, especially so close to a still in-service line like this. Most decommissioned train cars were cannibalized for spare parts and what was left was either melted down for recycling or taken to a landfill. As Raven watched the wrecks meander past the windows, she was disheartened by how ugly and dirty it made the landscape appear.

"Where is this train headed?" Raven spoke cautiously, unsure of the hollow gaze the man was giving her.

"Jump City, of course," he said. "Were you forced on this train as well?"

"Yeah, I was." Raven wasn't telling a total lie.

A sequence of numbers was stenciled in black spray paint across the front and back of the man's shirt and the same was also true of the second individual. They looked like a pair of criminals being transported to prison. This would probably explain why the place was so unclean and why the windows were welded shut.

With her immediate question answered, she retreated to the other side of the car, trying not to appear too eager to put some distance between her and the hollow man. Even still, she could feel him watching her, making her feel very uneasy.

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"And what am I?" A sob cut Raven from saying anymore.

"Alive!" Knives shouted his final words.

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Raven was incurably alive, and if it weren't for the windows being welded shut she would've taken off right at that moment in search of the others. More important than her own well being was that of her friends. Had she been the only one fortunate enough to survive by some sort of freak accident? Or had it been that woman…?

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"I have decided to intercede on your behalf for the purpose of enlisting your services."

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Raven didn't believe in coincidences; that woman defiantly had something to do with it. Raven had no intention of aiding that woman with whatever she had been referring to. The Titans were first priority. Should it come to pass that she was the only survivor from that encounter with Jigo and Flare, that the others were not coming back, Raven promised that she would join them soon after. She would rather die than face that lonely future.

She brushed some trash off a seat and took some weight off her feet. For the remainder of the trip, she didn't move from that spot.

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The rhythmic beating of the train wheels began to slow down noticeably. It wouldn't be long until they pulled into the station. With a hiss of brake pressure being released, the dilapidated train came to rest inside a recess running parallel to the boarding and disembarking platform. The car doors opened only right after they had come to a complete stop.

"Well, end of the line." The hollow eyed man sighed before taking a forced step off the train. The second man followed the first without a word or even so much as a glance in Raven's direction.

Raven too disembarked the train without saying anything else. A few feet behind the two men, she watched as they walked up the platform and entered the main station through a rotating metal gate. She didn't want to waste her time in the terminal; she wanted to get to Titans' Tower as soon as possible. If the others were alive and in Jump City, that would be the first place they would go.

Besides, where else was there to go?

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos," Raven quietly chanted to herself with the intent of flying all the way to her destination.

But nothing happened.

She stood there, ready to feel the familiar sensation of her body growing lighter as the power took over, but not a single thing was happening. Even more upsetting was that she couldn't feel the power at all. It wasn't as if she was being blocked: it was not there, not a glimpse or even a spark of energy flow could be felt traveling in her veins.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" She repeated, straining her voice and muscles to try and force the power out, but still her river ran dry. "What is going on?"

Raven looked down at her own body. She came to realize that she'd been so occupied with her thoughts about the others that she had failed to notice her new uniform. She wore the same the same prisoner's uniform as the other two men. The only difference was in the sequence of numbers that were highlighted across her chest. '001-00013' was the classification printed there. Though something about that particular sequence was familiar. Where had she heard it before?

Undaunted, but very confused, Raven turned to make an escape from the terminal by trekking a path past the resting train engine and around the outside of the complex. She stopped in her tracks when one of the prison guards walked right up to her.

The guard wore a black jumpsuit covered with armor plating over the shins, knees, elbows, upper arms, and chest, as well as a helmet that encompassed the whole head with a dark visor which allowed him to see. Holstered across his back was a laser rifle held in place by a shoulder strap and in his hands he wielded a stun baton which hummed with electricity along its shaft and sparks of electron current at the head. It seemed the guard was only protected from the baton's power by the special insulating gloves he wore.

He directed Raven towards the rotating doorway, threatening her with a discharge of high electric current in the back if she should stop or try and resist. Raven did as the guard directed, not wanting to cause any trouble in her current state.

Forcing her way past the entrance, she arrived at a large room. Set up almost perfectly in the center were several cubicles from which guards, also dressed in similar armored uniforms, were working at computers and exchanging information through speakers built into their helmets that also distorted the voices, making it difficult to distinguish between guards.

Avoiding eye contact with any other guards, Raven worked her way around the cubicles and approached a security checkpoint. It looked like one of those metal detectors one goes through at an airport. There was a conveyer belt for placing luggage so that it might x-ray the insides of your possessions for hidden weapons and contraband and an archway for people to walk under where they were scanned for similar items.

Past the station, the hallway split into two different paths both blocked by its own chain link fence. One led to another train platform with a sign post reading, 'Nova Prospekt,' while the other led to the front of the building. Raven could tell it was the front due to the light shining in through a few scattered windows and the large wooden double door. The only way past the fence was via a narrow opening cut into the base. Two guards kept watch over this entire fork in the road.

One guard pointed a baton at Raven and signaled her through the arch. Again, Raven complied and walked where commanded. As she passed under the metal detector, she caught sight of a security camera that lazily swept back and forth across the juncture. Safely through the arch without incident, one of the guards moved to block the path to the front of the building while the other signaled her to the train platform and Nova Prospekt.

Three times an alarm broke the hushed quite of the terminal building. It came from the camera that was now locked on Raven. A flash of light and a clicking sound snapped from the lens. Someone was taking pictures of her. Both guards now blocked the exits and a third, coming from seemingly from out of thin air prohibited a retreat through the arch.

Raven was now sandwiched between guards and fences. She cursed her luck and prepared to fight if she had too.

A door opened beneath the photo camera and another guard emerged, pointing an accusing finger at her as if intending to spear her with it.

"You, citizen, come with me!" he commanded over the helmets voice-distorting speaker.

Raven turned to make a break for the front door. But the guard wasn't slow; he pulled his baton, turning it on with the flick of his forefinger and held it up like a hammer.

Raven quietly recited her idiom once again, trying desperately to will the weapon from the guard's hands. The weapon remained where it was, as did the guard. Behind her, she heard the jogging footsteps as several more guards emerged from the cubicles and headed right for her. If she didn't do what she was told soon, they would force her, probably making liberal use of those batons they kept swinging around.

Not wanting to be physically beaten, her pride certainly needed resuscitation though; she held her hands up showing she wasn't going to resist and went to follow the guard through the doorway.

The door immediately closed behind her, sealing her in. The walls were made from unpainted cinderblocks. Compressed cardboard boxes were used to make a 'poor man's' carpet. She followed the guard as he lead her past several metal-reinforced doors with narrow 'who goes there?' sliding peepholes. Passing by one peephole in particular that was open, she recognized the hollow-eyed man from the train. He was sitting in a plastic chair, an interrogation light shining down upon him.

"There must be some mistake. I've got a standard relocation form just like everyone else." Any further protesting was cut off as the spy-hole slid closed from the inside. Raven's escort had stopped at the door adjacent to this one and waited for her. When she approached, the escort slid a card into the door's lock and opened it.

"Get in!"

Raven only had to see the pool of dried blood to freeze in her tracks.

"Go on!" the guard shouted before forcibly shoving her into the room. There had already been another guard waiting in the room, this one grabbed Raven by the shoulder before sticking a lit baton into the small of her back. Raven arched in surprise and pain as the electric flow coursed through her body. She hadn't wanted to, but the surprise had caught her off guard. Her scream filled the tiny room, overflowing into the hallway. Stars exploded in her eyes as she completely collapsed onto the floor; muscles aching terribly as they trembled uncontrollably. The guard who had stuck her bent over to place her in the plastic chair, seated right above the pool of dried blood.

"Need any help with this one?"

"No, I'm good."

The door allowed one of the guards to exit, before closing; a bolt sliding into place sealed it shut. Raven was unsure if the one left behind had been the one responsible for hitting her or not. Either way she feared for her life in this place. Were they going to interrogate her, or do worst things to her body?

How ironic, her thoughts came uneasily, to be killed as a prisoner in the same city she had nearly died to protect.

Her eyes darted wildly to see what was happening around her. From her head's immobile position, she could just barely make out the back of the guard as he typed something into a computer terminal. The shock was starting to wear off; a few more minutes and she would be able to start moving around again. But without her powers how would she be able to escape from this place?

"Yeah, I'm going to need me some privacy for this." The guard chuckled to himself as he typed a few commands into the terminal. Raven watched as two cameras in opposite corners seemed to fold in upon themselves and rose into hidden depressions in the ceiling. It was just Raven and this guard now inside a locked room.

Raven ground her teeth together as she strained to raise her body from the chair, but her muscles remained unresponsive. As her body came crashing down upon the seat, her head also fell back and she noticed for the first time a mirror on the ceiling.

A mirror on the ceiling? Probably put there so the victim could watch them self being tortured and beaten. But what Raven saw filled her with despair.

For the second time, in as many minutes, Raven fought against letting out a wail of anguish as she peered upon her reflection. She bit her lip, but the truth was reflected back at her. The mirror couldn't lie. Now she understood why her powers had been taken away. The amethyst jewel in her forehead was gone. There wasn't even a mark to show anything for it, just smooth and unblemished skin on her forehead.

Raven threw herself to the floor, not wanting to look in the mirror anymore, she still couldn't move her limbs very efficiently, but was willing to squirm like a worm if she had too. She was dead resolved on escape; she had to get out of here!

"You can't leave like this." The guard had run over to Raven when the sound of her body hitting the floor had reached his ears. He grabbed her by the shoulders to hold her down, but she fought tooth and nail, not caring if she got hurt in the progress. She had to escape; she couldn't afford to die here. She had to get her powers back; she had to find the others!

"Raven, it's ok. I'm here to help!" Even after the words had been said, Raven continued the fight before her panicked mind realized that the guard had spoken her name. She ceased her useless struggle and turned her head to peer up at a friendly face. The guard had removed the helmet and was smiling down upon her. A second mask still covered his eyes, but Raven still recognized the young man under the uniform.

"Speedy!" Her joy and relief at seeing a familiar face was almost palpable. She even managed a grin, though it was more of a slight upturn of the corners of her mouth, but for Raven it was a big thing.

"Good to see you, Raven." Speedy hoisted Raven back onto the chair. "Hey, sorry about the rough treatment, but you stirred up the bee hive with your little display of resistance back there."

Raven wondered if he meant what had happened back at the check point. If that much display of defiance warranted a stun shot in the back, what else would they have done if she actually attempted to escape?

"Why are you here? What's going on?" Despite the shock of the past few minutes, she still managed to sound authoritative.

"Heh," Speedy tittered. "I imagine you wouldn't know these things. It has been nearly a year since the Teen Titans were declared legally dead."

Speedy's statement wasn't all the very shocking to Raven. After all she had thought herself dead before, but a year ago?

That's what disturbed her.

"It all happened so fast," Speedy continued as he seemed to lose himself in the memory. "Nearly a week after the news hit the public, black ships descended from the skies claiming loyalty to Lloth the Spider Queen. The H.I.V.E. immediately rose to the surface and allied themselves with these aliens. In return, once Earth was under their control, they would set Brother Blood, the leader of the H.I.V.E., as the official ambassador between humanity and Lloth, promising him unprecedented power over humanity's future."

Speedy shook his head to clear it, sniffling back a tear. It appeared as if he had suffered some personal loss during that time. But he smiled a kindly smile at Raven and went back to his story. "The world probably would've surrendered within the first month if it hadn't been for people like us."

"People like us?"

"All over the Earth, superheroes like us, kids and teenagers with the power to fight, gathered together to combat the invaders and we have been ever since. Starting from the western coast of America, including Jump City, the alien's territory covers all of Canada, Alaska, Japan, Most of Russia, some parts of China, all of the Middle Eastern countries, and Africa. But they've been unable to push their borders any further for the past four months."

"But you've been unable to push them back as well." Raven sounded as if she was accusing Speedy.

"I'll admit to that, but it's more than you Teen Titans have done for us. If you're not dead, then where have you been hiding for the past year?" He waited for her to reply, but she had no answer to that.

"What can I do?" Raven knew that without her powers there wasn't much she really could contribute to the resistance.

"I know you've lost your powers, but even so, anyone willing to fight is welcomed."

"How do you know I've lost my power?"

"Simple deduction," Speedy pointed to his forehead, "plus the fact that you should've been able to break out of here easily, but didn't."

Raven flexed her hands; her fingertips still tingled uncomfortably, but she was feeling a lot better now, even with the surprise of everything that Speedy had told her. Even without her powers and in the face of this changed world, she felt she could still contribute something.

Still…

"I want to help, but I need to search for Robin and the others. If I'm alive, they at least have a chance…"

"Agreed, but first we have to get you out of here." Speedy walked back over to the computer terminal, "I've been working under cover with the H.I.V.E. for the past couple of months. I know a few back doors here and there."


	2. Point Insertion Final

Teen Titans: Trigon Apotheosis

Chapter 1 – Point Insertion (Final)

Across the keyboard, Speedy's fingers danced with the rhythm and precision of a long-time pro. In the past, his very namesake once signified his great talent with the bow and arrow, and the ability to construct his own specialized arrows; like high explosive, incendiary, and stun. It was said he could draw and release a hail of these special arrows with the same swiftness as a machine gun could empty its clip. But now his name was more of a symbol of his capacity to get the job done as both a spy and courier..

However, his post as an undercover spy relied heavily on two particular skills: stealth and computers, not so much actual fighting. Before everything went sour, he had never found any use for computers and their electronic ilk. Unluckily, after the spiders came, the knowledge was more or less forced upon him. Time was short and the war was really heating up when it was decided that he was the best candidate out of several to perform a long-term undercover assignment.

It was discovered shortly after the invasion began that it was discovered, to humanities dismay, that the aliens possessed an advanced sensory 'network' that allowed them to detect any and all chi, spiritual, and elemental activity that transpired within their territory and along their borders.

When it came to espionage and reconnaissance into these enemy-conquered lands, it was this network that made a superhero's special abilities a deadly liability. As soon as that talent was activated to perform such feats as, for example, throwing a fireball or even trying to fly, this network of sensors would pick up on the energy release and pinpoint that person's location and relay all that data to the nearest guard post. Which is why any individual, human or not, who relied on such super power was useless against the spiders outside of a direct confrontation.

So why had Speedy been chosen for this highly risky assignment? It was because he commanded no such disadvantageous super power. His athletic training and talent with the use and construction of the bow and arrow were the results of long sessions of intensive training and corrections from trial and error. Therefore the 'network' had no authority over him. It didn't matter if he used his trademark weaponry; the sensors would pass him over each and every time, and if he ever found the need to fight his way out, he had a better chance escape when those hidden eyes were not reporting his each and every move.

This freed those individuals with super powers to concentrate more on the refinement and development of their unique powers, which were far more effective in combating the alien soldiers, and their ships, than natural human skills, like those that Speedy, or even Robin, used. Ironically, Raven was fortunate that she had lost her powers when she had. Otherwise, this very network would've discovered her location and filtered it to the nearest containment squad, and, ultimately, she would've had to fight her way out and risk being killed or worse, captured. If captured, the aliens would no doubt see her for what she was, or, rather, had been.

There had been rumors circulating in the past month that various members of the late Teen Titans had been spotted, alive, in several locations distributed along the borders between human and spider territory. These accounts usually followed the apparent sabotage of spider military stockpiles or key facilities.

The spiders and the H.I.V.E. evidently concluded that the rumors had some merit to them, or they just didn't want to take any chances. They were, therefore, seen publicly offering a serious reward to anyone, friend or foe, who could supply any information on the location of these Teen Titans. Concurrently, recently monitored movements of people and supplies also indicated a far more staggering degree of alarm then just a mere interest in some rumors. The H.I.V.E. also implemented a campaign of propaganda to goad and coerce others to cast these Teen Titans into serious doubt. Saying such things like, 'the Titans betrayed you in the past,' or 'the Titans are expired, these are fakes,' amongst other things.

While a minority at first, there were many humans who believed the Teen Titans had returned and had begun to strike back at the invaders. This group grew as time went on, yet despite the growing file of reliable evidence, one major demographic of humans still believed in the latter argument, that these Titans, as it were, were nothing but counterfeits or a trick of the enemy. Despite the general populous' doubts in the matter, they found themselves, seemingly beyond their will, cheered these 'Titans' on. Anyone who fought against the invaders was an ally even if their identity was ambiguous. They lacked the time and resources to investigate these rumors fully, hoping instead that the Titans would sooner or later come out of hiding and sign on with the rest of the resistance and thus prove their intentions and existance.

On the other hand, there was another majority that conversely held the former account to be true instead, that the Titans had been responsible, in part or in full, for the events that had transpired over the last year. Speedy, fortuitously for Raven, was not one to jump on the bandwagon; instead exercising a healthy dose of skepticism until he could see them, in the flesh, for himself. He never believed that the Teen Titans were dead in the first place and that they would return, though he was disappointed that it had taken them so long to do it.

This brought him to Raven and no matter how one sliced it, it had been by virtue of a low tier of luck that Speedy had managed to get possession of her first. Auspicious as it was that the guards hadn't become conscious of the prize that had stumbled blindly into their midst, now it was Speedy's self appointed duty to get her the hell out of the city quickly before someone on the wrong side got wise to this critical situation.

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"That's the short version," Speedy said at the conclusion of his brief account. For now, that would have to satisfy Raven's curiosity, at least until she was safely outside hostile territory.

"You still haven't explained how we're getting out of here," Raven said in her own stylized no-nonsense tone.

"You're a shrewd girl, you know that?" Raven certainly didn't allow Speedy any room to maneuver. She crossed her arms and drilled an answer out of him like a laser beam. Speedy was thankful that she actually couldn't shoot lasers from her eyes, otherwise he'd be a smoking brown spot on the floor right about now.

"I know," Speedy continued with a touch of aggravation. Here he was trying to help out and Raven had the nerve to get bossy on him. "I said I knew a few backdoors, and I do, but I can't leave my post or I'll jeopardize my valuable position here. On the other hand, I can't leave you alone in your…" He struggled for an appropriate term. "…current state."

"I can manage on my own," Raven stated defiantly, although she herself wasn't so sure of it because of her 'current state.'

"Sorry, Raven, I'm not letting you go without an escort." Speedy was typing various commands on the computer terminal, as he had been for the past five minutes. For his efforts, the monitor screen dissolved into a translucent blue, which was followed up with a fade out to show the interior of what looked like a factory. Inside this factory, lights flashed and machines hummed but with the small view the camera provided it was hard to determine what was being made or processed.

"What are you doing?" Raven asked.

"Calling for an escort," Speedy answered honestly.

As if on cue, a face hidden off to the side, panned onscreen to give Speedy a critical gaze. The face looked human in the arrangement of its features, but had a machine's rough angles and molecular construct.

"Make it quick, Speedy. I don't have time to waste on frivolous dialogue." The voice was completely artificial, Raven guessed that it was generated by a synthesizer and emitted through a speaker placed just behind the mouth. But it was the second time today she had run into a familiar figure although not as friendly.

"Sorry, Fixit." Speedy didn't sound apologetic. "But look who I managed to pulls out of a dirty hole." He moved to the side to allow Fixit a full view.

"Interesting." A metallic eyebrow elevated over a camera lens for an eye, the closest indication of humanity in this otherwise pure machine. "The rumors are true then."

"I figured it as well, but she's lost her powers. I doubt she's the one responsible."

"What do you plan?" When it came to expression no emotion, Fixit had Raven beaten by the virtue that he hadn't had any emotions to begin with. Her biggest weakness in the matter was that she was still human, even if only half so.

"I want to get her over to where you are, but you know my situation. Help me out here."

Fixit's eyes turned to consult some information, which was apparently displayed off screen, before replying.

"Alexis is the closest. She will take control of the Raven."

"I'm not some remote doll. I can take care of myself." Raven jumped to protest against Fixit's choice of words, but her disapproval did nothing to disturb the mechanic, who seemed to acknowledged her presence like she was a piece of glass art, one needing both delicate handling and an overabundance of soft packing material for transportation, lest she break in-between destinations. Which might not be too far from the truth in her current condition.

"Are you SURE there is no one else close by?" Speedy didn't sound content with Fixit's counsel.

"I am positive. There is no else within optimal distance."

"You couldn't double check, maybe you missed someone?"

"Do you wish to waste my time, human?" Raven was almost sure she detected a hint of displeasure in Fixit's voice, but then maybe she just imagined it.

"Agh, I guess she'll have to do." Speedy said his overt displeasure was contagious.

"I will forward the data to her," Fixit said before he cut communications.

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Alexis had once been a thief and while it was those very skills that made her a valuable member as far as stealing and border patrol were involved, she had never been this deep in enemy territory before. She was a 'super,' which was the term used to describe anyone with supernatural abilities, in her case the element of ice. Consequently she was vulnerable to the network and was as much a liability as an asset to Speedy at this junction.

Most supers understood their vulnerability in the matter and understandably avoided entering into hostile territory when not engaged in a frontal assault. Alexis, however, seemed to enjoy the risky situation her unique powers indirectly provided her. Many times, she had been told to stop her dangerous behavior. In the end, she allayed all objections regarding her extracurricular activities when she kept brining back stolen goods of both a valuable and needed nature, things like, weapons, medical supplies, food, and astute intelligence on enemy movement and technology.

But the risk of her revealing important information to the enemy, should she ever be captured, was a problem that could cause great harm. Therefore, a compromise was reached. Alexis would be allowed to continue her foraging raids, but she would be considered a loose agent, a random factor, and consequently not prone to immediate aid and kept out of the loop. Anyone who told her anything regarding resistance secrets, movements, location of resource stockpiles, or missions (upcoming or in progress), would be severely punished and lead to Alexis' immediate detainment until the information leaked no longer had any relevance.

This would continue until she decided to play by the rules and adopt formal resistance protocols, or was killed.

…………………………………………………………………………………

"Everything will be fine, providing she doesn't use her powers," Raven reasoned, but was still not happy about having to be escorted.

"You've never seen a Death Squad in action, Raven. If you had, you'd understand my problem with her leading you around. One single spark of power and it's all over. You're captured, she's captured, and you're too valuable." Speedy visibly trembled slightly.

"Valuable? Both you and Fixit treat me like a war trophy or a little kid who has to be lead by the hand. Without my power, I'm still a Teen Titan and I can handle myself."

"I know." Speedy was defensive. "For good or bad, this is how things are. I only ask that you cooperate with Alexis, since she's the only protection you'll have once you leave this place."

"Then we should hurry and get this over with." Raven's was becoming more impatient and cranky with each word that Speedy uttered.

"One thing before that…" Speedy hid his sudden loss of confidence by concealing his face behind his helmet mask.

"What now?"

"Remember what I said about not compromising my position?" Every word sounded like an apology.

"Yes." Raven was unsure what he was trying to get at.

"You were brought here for interrogation. True, it was the only way for me to get in touch with you, but I'm way behind on my 'beating quota' and they'll get suspicious if I let you go untouched. I hope you understand that I didn't want to do this."

The truth dawned on her just as Speedy took out the baton from his utility belt.

If she'd realized it sooner, Raven wouldn't have lacked the reflexes to defend herself in time. The crack of metal striking skin and bone echoed in the small room. She didn't scream in pain, the blunt trauma inflicted on the left side of her skull cause her breath to catch halfway up from her lungs.

The suddenness of the blow threw her off balance and she fell to the floor. She reached up to where Speedy had stuck her and immediately withdrew her hand, wincing in added discomfort at the tender wound, which was already starting to swell.

"I'm sorry, Raven," Speedy said again, genuinely remorseful at what he was doing, but still he did not hold back. Sparing but a moment for Raven to recover from the first attack, He did not wait for her to regain her footing before his boot sharply connected with her midsection, hard and unyielding.

Raven's eyes gawked wide with pain. The air trapped in her lungs was violently forced out her mouth and nose as her diaphragm collapsed under the powerful kick.

"Ghuhh!" was all she managed to say as she doubled over from the pummel, her hands cradling her bruised stomach. Tears forced their way down her cheeks; she was as powerless to stop them as she was the physical beating she was suffering.

This very real anguish she had to endure brought the truth home; up until now she hadn't become conscious on just how much she relied on her powers. She'd taken them for granted and now without them she was simply an insubstantial teenager. The tears were not from the pain, but from the mental turmoil at this feeling of powerlessness to change her situation under her own strength. She always prided herself on being self-reliant and in control, always able to take care of herself; now she lay naked, in a fitting metaphorical sense, before Speedy and unable to fight back. How hollow her words of defiance from before sounded to her now.

She detested people who made bold statements without the strength to back them up; she loathed herself even more for committing the same sin. What a hypocrite she was. She wasn't useful to anyone like this. Speedy might as well kill her now, instead of prolonging the inevitable.

But Speedy had concluded that two hits was enough physical evidence needed to get her by the other guards without suspicion. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a brown capsule. Opening it he poured two white pills into his hand, offering them to Raven.

"Take these Raven, they should help with the pain."

"This pain…I will handle it myself." Raven turned away refusing his help. She wasn't talking about the bruises on her body. She refused to be helpless, even if she had to suffer for it. Power or not, she _was_ a Teen Titan and rejected anyone or anything that said anything to the contrary.

Again Speedy apologized for the violent, but ironically necessary, treatment. Raven wondered if he didn't secretly feel thankful that she didn't have her powers. Doubtful that he would say that to her face even if he did.

Raven allowed Speedy to cuff her hands behind her back, leading her back down the way she came, back to the security checkpoint. In truth, she didn't hold too much ill will towards Speedy. He didn't realize it, but he'd taught her an important lesson and it had been necessary to safeguard his job. That was understandable, but it didn't mean that she would just forgive and forget about it either. Raven vowed to pay him back at a later date, once this was all over.

Uncharacteristically, she found herself wishing Beast Boy were around. He was a specialist at getting revenge on people in the most humiliating ways. How strange that the characteristic that most annoyed her about Beast Boy, she would ended up wishing for when he was no longer around.

She tried to take her mind of her wounds by thinking about all the things she had never told Beast Boy, but resolved to once she found him and not just Beast Boy; she needed to find the others as well. Robin, Starfire, Cyborg, and Knives: each name was like a splinter in her heart, digging deeper, tearing at her flesh with each beat.

They just had to be alive. If not, she wouldn't be able to bear the agony of their passing.


	3. Escape part 1

Teen Titans: Trigon Apotheosis

Chapter 3 – Escape (part 1)

The blunt wound on Raven's face had swollen up noticeably, a vertical line of red rising from her forehead, down past her left eye, and ending below her cheekbone. It was far more painful than it looked, however, and prevented her from opening her eye because of the sharp degree of discomfort. Several times, she had unconsciously reached up to it, to feel how serious it was, and each time quickly snapped her hand back under a fresh wave of throbbing distress.

The guards waved her through the checkpoint, pointing her in the direction of the front of the building. Raven was slightly hunched over, eyes cast to her feet, and made a scratching sound, like sandpaper on plaster, with her shoes as she shuffled toward the exit. Speedy had instructed her to act using this technique, saying it made her look submissive and would to allay further harassment from the guards. As a matter of fact, her abdominal muscles ached with such adamant grief, she was unable to stand up straight under her full weight because of the impenitent kick Speedy had inflicted on her midsection just moments before.

She was sure that Speedy had planned it that way in order to aid her in the act. Ironically, it was a good thing he had too; Raven was a poor actor. Even so, she still found it upsetting to have to appear weak, all the more so since it was not really just acting. Then again, in spite of her emotional qualms and doubts, she passed under the chain link fence without a hint of further trouble from the guards, not one threat with a baton or a sideways arbitrate glimpse.

From here on out, if everything worked precisely, she would be able to link up with Alexis just outside the terminal, provided she steered clear from any more security stations, or guards on power trips. From there, the rest would all fall into place, like a stroll through the park when equated with everything else she had been subjected to since her unexpected arrival. But there would be no more assistance from Speedy. He was incapable of following her past the checkpoint. Raven was unsure if she really wanted any more of _his_ help.

…………………………………………………………………………………

Raven's footsteps echoed in her ears. Occasionally kicking an old soda can or a molded food container to the side. Despite Speedy's surmised existence around fifty feet behind her she felt deserted and completely exposed to the elements. He might as well have been fifty miles away for all the good he could provide now. Raven equated her situation to the ambiance of walking down through a long dark tunnel, no light at the end to give hope of a conclusion to this nightmare, unable to see what creatures or traps laid across her path, waiting for their chance to tear at her.

A lot changes in just one year, under normal circumstance. There was no stopping the flow of time and the variations it inevitably brought with it, there was no doubt about that. But when a planet-encompassing war of governance inexorably induces such drastic alterations to the normal flow, the outcome was unpredictable and chaotic. The world left over from such an anarchic association would be nothing like how she would remember it. She already haven gotten a taste of it: disgustingly bitter, overpoweringly so.

Raven would've preferred a murky tunnel to this veracity; at least she wouldn't have to endure the sight of the restructured actuality that inescapably held her more of a prisoner than any penal institute on the face of the Earth.

…………………………………………………………………………………

Raven stepped into the main foyer. A pair of doors, presumably leading out into the city streets, was situated along the northern wall, flanked on either side by a guard, with rifles slung and batons at the ready. The remainder of the surroundings looked synonymous with every other room, with the exception of the hexagonal ticket booth that took up a large portion of area at the center of the room.

There was a sentry in the booth as well, but not selling tickets, Raven mused. Though it was hard to see exactly what he was doing, it was most likely related to her presence. The others by the front door also monitored her existence, watching and noting every move she made. If they saw the slightest hint of resistance, Raven imagined they would not hesitate to charge her down and use their shock sticks on her.

It made her feel very self-conscious. She was not used to the extreme amount of disapproving attention she'd been getting recently, and it seemed a lot of them were just staring at her breasts more than anything else. It made her extremely flustered, and she hoped her discomfort wasn't apparent on her face. Ostensibly, it could've been her imagination working overtime; it was difficult to tell where exactly they were looking from inside those masks.

When the booth guard beckoned to her from behind the thick panels of bulletproof glass, she saw his helmet pitch ever so noticeably downward. Raven was convinced of where their true interests lay. Another aggravating situation, it made her want to rip his helmet off and gouge out his eyes with her fist, but she bit her lip and played her role.

It was the guard's lucky day, whether he realized it or not. If Raven had indeed been privy to his identity, should they meet again, he would've had to say goodbye to his two best friends, and Raven was not thinking about the sentries by the front door. But he continued to eye Raven's breasts, seeing as how this life-changing knowledge was evidently lost on him.

Raven complied and approached the booth; there was nothing else she could do right now. Taking her mind off the subject, she tried thinking about what had become of the other individuals who had been on the train with her. Most likely she'd never see those two again, not that it had any precedence on her plans. Everything else outside of her immediate concerns was just background noise, a distraction from her primary mission.

…………………………………………………………………………………

Raven didn't want the added complexities of the modern world when her past was a shadowed and disorderly mess. Unanswered questions circled on how her father, Trigon, was related to this whole affair, both in the past and what he was up to now, in the present. Raven juggled many possibilities maybe he had established a sort of mutual relationship with these alien spiders or maybe not. Perhaps the aliens were an independent threat with nothing to do with her. She struggled to establish where Trigon's piece fit into place in to the bigger puzzle. Even worse she didn't have any proof so far to support any sort of conjecture.

Was it world domination that Trigon sought? If it was, he was going about it in a very complex, drawn out, inefficient, and secretive manner.

There was an issue concerning the H.I.V.E. It had cast aside a lifetime of acting the part of a secretive cult to ally itself with the aliens so quickly and easily, it had to be more than mere coincidence. Another event worthy of note was the pure timing of the whole alien invasion of Earth, right after the Titans were perceived dead and gone. Somehow, it just struck her as being a stepping-stone of a larger plan.

Only the Titans, Knives included, knew about Trigon's involvement with the H.I.V.E. It was doubtful even Speedy had discovered that information, despite his long run as a spy. Raven didn't ascribe it to her father being shy of exposure to the spotlight or even a general unwillingness to accept the responsibility; regardless, however, he was going to great lengths to hide his identity in the whole affair from everyone, even his own allies on Earth. Why then were the Teen Titans the only ones to which the knowledge had been disclosed?

This brought up many questions regarding Id, Flare, and Jiga, since they themselves had leaked the information to the Titans. Did they do it because that's what Trigon wanted or was there another reason for it? In the end, it was logical to assume the three of them were still around, somewhere, probably enjoying themselves in this world turned upside down. If so, there was still the chance the truth could come out.

But many things could happen in a year of war. Raven truly hoped something terrible had befallen them. It would certainly make her feel a whole hell of a lot better. She never wanted to cross paths with them again, even if it meant losing the only people on Earth who knew the truth about Trigon. Apart from those three, only Choego, Trigon's third guardian, and the Demon master himself knew the whole truth and neither of them seemed likely to make an appearance in the near future.

The only certainty she knew was that all of them were interested in both Knives and herself as well. She could see how being the demon daughter of the head Mastermind would warrant such interests. Knives was an enigma, the motives behind Trigon's guardian's interest in him was something that had not yet been expressed or discovered. 

The room would have detonated under her anger, had she still been capable of the act. Everything around her seemed only geared to demoralize and frustrate her. There was a blanket of mystery and intrigue that withheld all the important facts so thick and pervasive, she could almost smell it, and it stunk like a six-month-old pair of Beast Boy gym clothes at the bottom of the laundry pile. Thank god that was a duty Starfire was only too pleased to handle.

Now where in the hell had that come from? That was a tangent change so steep one should watch their step or fall to their death.

What was wrong with her? Something had changed inside her. It had only become obvious recently, but she knew it had started back when Knives had shown his face, uninvitingly.

That was when it all started to go bad for her, when all of the emotional and mental barriers she had spent years building began to crumble at their foundations. Yet he was clueless to how his mere presence systematically undermined her command of things. Raven hated being like that, not in control. She wasn't a child anymore; she could make her own decisions and take command of her life.

But with Knives—no, Xavier—around she felt like the little sister again. While he was off accomplishing great things, she had to stay behind in the orphanage like a good little girl, only for him to end up dead and gone, leaving her alone to fend for herself. That was the first time.

Now, in this forever-changed reality, this was the second time he'd abandoned her. He was like the boy who dumps his girlfriend and runs away, only to come back later asking to be accepted back with open arms. But Raven could not afford him in her life again.

Once she found him again, she'd tell him to, Go to hell, Xavier, cursing the day he ever decided to return from the dead.

…………………………………………………………………………………

The break in her thoughts occurred the moment she arrived at the ticket booth, where the guard was waiting for her. Still deep in thought, she was sure to maintain her superficial act of a submissive female prisoner. The guard didn't seem to be giving her much consideration anyway. Instead, he fumbled with something just below the desk where Raven couldn't see, before pushing two items through the little underhanded slot tray in the glass.

One was clearly an I.D. complete with prisoner number for a name, plastic laminated cover, and picture.

When had they taken her picture?

The other item looked like one of those time punch cards company employees used, but printed across the head of the card was 'Victual Quota."

Translation, 'Food Stamps."

She hoped the meal plan was better than the welcome reception, but there was no point in getting her hopes up.

…………………………………………………………………………………

Pinpoints of light shone through from countless bullet holes that decorated the door, the last remaining testament to a battle long forgotten. At first, Raven hesitated opening the twin doors for fear of what the new Jump City would be. Already in her mind's eye she saw a landscape covered in strands of sticky, tougher-than-steel spider webs, and people being lead away in cocoon prisons to a fate worse than death. Countless guards with their batons and spiders with their poisonous mandibles watched her every move.

It sounded like a scene from some cheap b-grade horror flick.

She took several deep breaths, slowly and rhythmically, to calm herself, but the more she delayed, the more the guards seemed ready to use it as an excuse to pummel her again, like cheetahs pouncing for the kill on a wounded gazelle. They sure did love to swing those batons around. The euphoria of being the one in control, probably went right to their heads.

There was no sense in delaying any longer. She placed her palm against the hole-peppered surface and gently pushed it forward. Raven sucked in her breath and held it for the few terse moments it took the door took to open fully. Her brain toiled to define all she saw into coherent thoughts.

…………………………………………………………………………………

Outside the train terminal was Jump City, her home, nearly the same as it always had been.

There was a lot more trash clogging the streets, some buildings were showing signs of damage from stray weapons fire, and only a handful of civilians, minding their own business amongst a half dozen guards on patrol, walked the sidewalks with eyes watching their feet, trying not to catch a guard's attention.

It was mid-afternoon; the sun still shared its bright radiance with this part of the world and, with a blue cloudless sky, the city just about looked promisingly peaceful. The people wandering the streets with soft and methodical body language, there was no intrusive noise from hordes of headed automobiles filling the air with mechanical noise. Yet the streets held no true life atop its paved surface, there was not a glimmer of optimism in their eyes of the shuffling pedestrians, just broken spirits with seemingly nothing left to live for. This wasn't a tranquil sort of peace, but an oppressed and forced silence, it was an atmosphere of tyranny common to a dictatorships that delighted in silencing anyone who raised a voice in opposition. Under circumstances like that, it was best to stay quiet, keep your head low, and your nose out of trouble. That was if you wanted to keep on living with all your parts intact.

What she didn't see was any sign of these deadly alien spiders Speedy kept remarking about. There was not a single sticky web or struggling cocooned prisoner, and with a clear sky, any ships flying overhead would've be visible for miles in all directions. As such, there wasn't even a bird gliding through these unfriendly skies.

…………………………………………………………………………………

A short flight of stairs took Raven to the sparsely populated streets of Jump City. At the bottom was a message engraved into a metal plate and welded to a vertically planted length of pipe.

It said:

To all new arrivals, 

Report to your local housing administrator for assignment to living quarters immediately. Failure to do so within the first 24 hours upon entering City limits will result in the suspension of all food rations for one week.

Father Blood

There was an arrow affixed to the pipe with a single bolt the size of her thumb, representing the direction the message was compelling her to travel. That direction only went unhindered for a third of a football field before coming to a vehement stop. The entire width of road was sealed off, first by a line of orange cones, and then a barrier composed of multiple alloy-armor plates welded together in an irregular mosaic pattern and fitted into guiding recess cut into the sides of skyscrapers.

Standing at more than three times her height and coated in black paint, the entire structure looked crude in its hastily constructed manner. Precedence with functionality, not aesthetics, must have been the builder's concern. It did its job well at stopping unarmed civilians and prisoners, but probably would buckle under heavy fire.

In the opposing direction, a second guard barrier was erected to further restrict movement. It was disappearing behind the horizon, it was that far away, but still visible. All the back roads and alleys were sealed with sections of chain fence complimented with razor wire. Only as a desperate last resort would she even consider attempting to climb it. Only if she could fly would avoiding the security points be possible, but even that would bring unavoidable risks, the 'network' being the primary concern.

Three guards and a stationary turret, stripped from the back of a tank, maintained a vigil watch. When Raven observed a civilian approach the wall, one of the guards performed a pat-down check of the hapless individual right away, then checked the person's I.D. card. When everything was settled, a whistle blew to the start up sound of an engine, probably taken from the same tank. The entire wall rose above the ground a simple four feet, just enough to allow the civilian to pass under the structure, providing he bent down pretty low.

As the resident was sidestepping his way under the wall, a guard lashed out with his boot and caught the city dweller at the hip. A loud pop of a boot-impacting joint was reverberated into the air and passed down the road. The forward inertia of the blow caused the resident to roll the rest of the way under the wall or suffer a second tortuous thump. They all laughed, finding an unsettling amount of humor in this.

The resident hadn't let go with a cry of distress, or even a whimper of displeasure. Unfortunately, this seemed to be the kind of thing that would be going on all the time in this kind of place. He was just a dog who didn't complain when its master mistreated it.

The laughter didn't last long. One of the guards raised his gloved hand to point accusingly in Raven's direction. The sentry in closest proximity broke from his beat and was power walking towards her position. Already he had his weapon in his hand, ready to use it.

Like an animal that knows its being hunted, Raven searched frenziedly for an alternate route, finally taking the only way that was open to her. If Alexis was going to come, she had better hurry.


	4. Escape Final

Teen Titans: Trigon Apotheosis

Chapter 4 – Escape (Final)

Raven had made a right turn, the only path that was immediately open to her. She forced herself to walk calmly towards the second security gate, situated down wind some six hundred feet she estimated. With the immediate threat behind her, literally, Raven felt caught in a chokehold and almost imagined she could feel the noose tightening.

For two minutes—or in some ways what could've been two hours, Raven always was abysmal at keeping up a reliable track of time—the impromptu chase remained uninterrupted. Bearing down the wide avenue the sentry kept the distance between them consistently equal, never letting up for a moment.

Raven had never encountered this kind of situation before. She found it dubious and unsettling how the guard could act similarly bored with the whole thing while also radiating a hunger to catch her. She didn't need her telepathic ability to sense the primal instinct imparting from the man like a bad case of body odor. It was clear he was trying to set her up for something. He didn't bark out commands like, 'halt,' or, 'freeze,' like Raven normally would've expected from a prison guard, didn't threaten her with a bullet in the back, and walked at a measured pace that was both rigid and artificial, seeming like he didn't want to spring the trap early or he had all the time in the world with which to hunt her down.

Raven knew that was this was the reality of her situation, similar to being caught in a shrinking vise. Her area of freedom was shrinking with every alteration of step. On one side was the lone guard, and on the other was the security barrier, probably fortified with even more sentries and turrets to top it off as well. If it had been her, Raven reckoned, if the roles had been reversed, she would have already radioed ahead with a warning, a message to the gate guards of her imminent arrival, encoded in electronic wavelengths, something so insignificant, yet spelled so much turmoil for her.

With hundreds of yards of razor wire fences wrapping around the border between building and street, blocking all in-between routes, it was a corral to heard prisoners like livestock. All the guards had to do was wait and watch, disciplining any who tried to jump the fence with government-approved cattle prods. But Raven wondered if a few prods in the back was the worst she could expect.

She disliked how the guard was playing tricks with her. He seemed not to be content with simply putting her out of her misery, like when a squirrel meets a speeding car head on, but to perpetually drew out the suffering, like trying to shave her legs by pulling each and every hair out individually with a rusty pair of tweezers.

"Fine then, play that way. The old cat and mouse game." She quietly mused. Raven knew the way to win this particular match of wits was not to be the mouse because the mouse never wins, unless you actually believed those stupid cartoons. The window of opportunity was closing; if Raven was going to do something, it had to be soon. She couldn't rely on some unknown third party for support.

Raven hadn't looked back at the guard since this peculiar anti-climatic chase had begun. Instead, judging the distance involved by the sound of his footsteps and from the distance they had covered already, she guessed that the two of them were a fair distance, probably somewhere close to the middle, from both of the gates.

Raven wasn't a close combat expert, but if she could wrestle the guard's weapon away from him, she stood a considerably better chance of escape. She'd only have one shot at this; timing was everything, miss the mark and she would probably receive an unhealthy does of electro-shock therapy for her troubles.

She slowed, reducing her walk as much as she could without it being too obvious. It seemed to work, the distance was gently narrowing by an increasingly noticeable margin. Closer and closer came the sound of the man's footsteps. A few more seconds and Raven could…

But the guard must've been aware of what she was trying to do. He stopped with a sudden jerk, suggesting he'd walked headfirst into an invisible wall, and there he waited until the distance returned to his self-arranged length.

She couldn't overpower the man in a test of physical might. That was not what she had in mind. Surprise was the method of choice, but a burst in for a grab of the baton wasn't going to work if she couldn't get close enough. Raven had another idea; she always had a contingency plan. If that didn't work, she didn't have much to work with, and assuming she was not suffering from random spasms on the pavement, the final act would be the concluding climb over the razor fence.

Once again she slowed her pace and again the distance narrowed. Just as expected the guard froze when the distance reached the imminent contact point.

'clink, clink, clink,' went the guards shoes, then they stopped. Less than half a heartbeat Raven spun a perfect 180 degree rotation, one foot in the air, halfway through a step, and finishing with a frontal charge that would've made even Robin jealous. Two extended steps and Raven was on top of the guard.

The startled guard took a reactive step backward while bringing his weapon round in a blind swing. It was a useless gesture; Raven had already anticipated his reaction and ducked, avoiding a potential second blow to her face, passing through his legs like a mouse through a hole.

Emerging on the other side, she immediately reached up with both hands, grabbing onto the first things they found. One hand caught the stock of the guard's rifle, while the other seized the strap. The guard had already taken a defensive step backward; shifting his weight in that direction. When Raven pulled forward, the rifle strap acted like a leash and drug the guard with it.

Raven used the guard's natural weight and her own inertia to flip him onto her back, then down and over her head, driving his helmet into the ground with the force of a jackhammer. There was a large cracking sound as the helmet impacted under the force, the visor producing multiple jagged fissures along its polished surface.

She released her handle on the guard, allowing his body to topple to the pavement. The impact had resulted in the guard losing his grip of the baton; it had fallen at Raven feet and now had found its way into her hand. She flicked the switch, the weapon hummed with internal power.

It quickly became apparent that she had overestimated the enemy, it seemed he must've only been playing games with her from the start or maybe he was stalking her for purely male reasons. Whatever the reason it had proved to be Raven's tool for surprise.

"Game over," she said with a slight hint of satisfaction. Raven didn't bother swinging; she pressed the weapon firmly against the guard's neck.

There was an electric crackle, an explosive flash of blue light, a puff of smoke, and the smell of burnt flesh. Like a bullet being discharge from a gun, the sudden release of power shot the man to the ground, a considerable distance away.

Fingers lost their victory grip on the club when a loop of electricity caught her unprotected hand causing it to go numb all over. When she had turned the weapon on, she hadn't realized she'd set the power level all the way up. The sudden and violent discharge of the batons batteries had overloaded the weapon and it now laid, a hot and smoking mess, on the ground its outer case melted coupled with fried internal circuitry and a battery spent beyond recharge, it was a useless piece of junk now. Fortunate as she was to only have suffered a slight feedback in current, it was only by virtue of the guard's armor, intentionally designed to resist electric shock, that both were still alive. After all, it wouldn't do to have a guard's own weapon turned against him.

Raven massaged her numbed fingers, trying to restore feeling. Her afflicted hand shook from the electric zap and was turning a lazy shade of red from where the heat had burnt it. It was a good thing they were numb, or she'd suffer from the pain.

Her work was not done though. The flash cause by the systematic discharge of had given the guards reason for worry and they would be here soon, ready to shoot first and never ask questions.

Raven quickly searched the unconscious guard for any useful items; the rifle was the first thing she took. It was significantly heavier than it looked, but even Raven didn't have any trouble carrying it with the strap. She hoped the extra effort would be rewarded with some extra firepower. In addition, she filched the whole of the guard's utility belt, which held a mixed bag of items, some more useful than others. Amongst the procured good were things like extra clips for the rifle, a flashlight, batteries, gum, a radio, pack of cigarettes, lighter, hook and rappelling wire, and pictures of semi-naked women. Raven used the lighter and burned all the pictures on the spot, much to her immediate satisfaction.

There was someone else who found this agreeable, since they started to clap their hands in applause. Raven turned to see whom it was and saw a girl of about the same age as herself, black hair with shining silver eyes wearing a black uniform and trench coat that looked remarkably like something the Nazi Secret Service would wear, minus the swastika. The girl was half obscured in shadow on the other side of the razor fence, standing in an alley where the sun's rays seemed afraid to reach.

"Not pleasant is it?" the girl spoke.

"What isn't?" Raven walked onto the sidewalk, within arms reach of the fence that separated the two of them.

"Getting a jolt of electricity through your hand," she said, pointing to Raven's burnt and numb hand. "I had someone fry my hand with my own stun gun once. I promised him that I would return to demonstrate just how it felt."

"How long have you been watching me?" Raven's eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Despite felling better from the favorable turn of events, she still was not in the mood for idle chitchat with a stranger.

"Since you left the terminal," the girl said matter-of-factly.

"So were you planning on ever helping out?"

"I figured Raven the famous Teen Titan" She said, her voice filled with sarcasm, "would be able to handle a single guard. Certainly saved me the trouble. Damn cops."

True, Raven did enjoy handling the situation herself, proof to herself that she still was more than useless, but that wasn't an excuse for this girl to be using the situation to her own amusement. Cabaret this was not.

"I see why Speedy was so upset. Your unpredictable, Alexis." Raven said her name as if describing a brand name of lavatory disinfectant.

Alexis nodded in acquiescence. "Whatever he told you I'm sure it is a reputation I well deserve, Raven." She pulled the flap of her trench coat back with speed that make it act more a cape, unsheathed a sword from some hidden 'pocket.'

The familiar markings upon the blade and handle identified themselves to Raven.

"How did you get that sword from Knives?"

"I didn't steal it if that's what you're going to accuse me of." Alexis used the refined blade to carve out an improvised door in the fence. Raven didn't wait for her to finish before pushing through.

"You should show more respect to the person who's helping her out." Alexis was slightly miffed at Raven's hasty attitude and lack of courtesy. She shrugged the anger off long enough to pass through before turning around to use a mini-welding torch and reattached enough of the fence's links to hold it closed.

From a distance, you couldn't tell she had just sliced through the fence with a sword, like a key in a sardine can. But not all the guards were as dumb as the one Raven clocked. This cosmetic reattachment would only delay them for a brief time. But by then Raven and Alexis would be well on their way out of the city.

…………………………………………………………………………………

Both girls had walked in silence since taking to the back streets of Jump City. Neither one was much for small talk, preferring to keep their thoughts focused on escape; it would've been difficult to hold a discussion above the sound of the sirens anyway.

A short time ago, multiple alarms began casting their howling ambiance over the city, sounding uncomfortably akin to the ones found in prisons. The sound echoed and reverberated down the streets originating from somewhere atop the buildings. When the sound grew louder, Alexis and Raven realized that they had approached too close to a major street and had to curve their direction.

Alexis never explained where they were going,

"So how then?" Raven asked out of the blue.

"Hmm?" Alexis paused, needing a refresher.

"The sword: explain yourself." Raven said to further push the issue.

"Right, I found it."

"Found it? Where?"

"In the tunnel, after you guys abandoned me there."

"When?"

"I don't know, when I woke up right after you guys abandoned me there."

"That doesn't seem plausible."

"You calling me a liar?" Alexis was becoming more visibly aggravated. 

"You're avoiding the subject." Raven wasn't calling her a liar, technically, but it did seem that Alexis was trying to avoid the subject. But some of what she said made sense anyway. Raven remembered that Knives had lost his sword in the tunnels before she had entered his mind and met Id in the process.

Both girls entered an uneasy silence; it seemed there would be no more talk on the subject today.

"Fine then," Raven finished. It wasn't as if Knives meant anything important to her anymore. If he dropped it, then he should be the one to fight for ownership of it.

For all her misgivings, Raven felt relieved to be in the company of a familiar and friendly, if only marginally so, face. There were certainly a lot of other people she might've been paired up with that would prove to be fare more culpable to deal with.


	5. Highway 17 part 1

Teen Titans: Trigon Apotheosis

Chapter 5 – Highway 17 (part 1)

Progress was slow and tedious, Raven and Alexis had been forced to run the rat maze of alleys ever since the alarms had gone off. The main roads had become the hunting grounds to squads of armored cars and halftracks, a constant river of military hardware that would drown those who approached it. Each of these vehicles carried with it at least half a dozen troops, all armed and ready to prove themselves in battle.

Oddly enough they never deviated from the main roads, never turned to sweep the inner intestines of the city. Obviously the armored cars were too big to fit, but why didn't they unload the troops? Not because they were blocked from it, only the alley entrances in the immediate vicinity of the train terminal were ever blocked with razor wire.

When Raven questioned Alexis concerning this quaint observation all she got in return was a shrug and a 'lets just keep moving' for her troubles. But Raven became more concerned with every intuitive examination; there were times she hated being so observant.

First, it was particularly noticeable that the guards were deliberately avoiding the shadow overcast back roads and Alexis too was avoiding the areas the sun just couldn't reach. The smell of decay was near palpable, ascending from countless dumpsters and trash tins, not unlike crushed soda cans, wasted stationary, molding food containers, and all manner of discarded items. Everywhere in the city was reflected the same level of neglect and disuse, as if no one cared anymore or there was no one around to care for it anymore.

But as bad as the stench was, it was the distinct sounds of dumpsters scraping pavement and cans being toppled over that set her tension on edge. Shadowy figures always seemed on edge of her sight, she would turn sharply to catch one in her vision only to see a blurred shape escape into the darkness, and always the feeling of eyes on her back watching he with a wholly different air of hunger. It reminded her of the dream she had just before she had awoken on the train.

Raven perceived the sky; the sun was boldly past its peak and continuing its lazy perpendicular walk down to the horizon. It was difficult to tell the exact time, however the slight chill that had been nipped at her skin said they were most likely in the autumn months, the sun would be retreating behind the scenes in a few hours. Raven knew beyond a reasonable doubt that what the guards feared was the very thing that haunted in the shadows.

She was curious, but didn't wish to discover first hand what it was; they had to be someplace safe before nightfall. She was secure in the idea that she'd eventually find out anyway. Raven picked up the pace, it was best to keep moving, as Alexis had suggested.

They were borderline running and jogging, an unknown fear driving their legs, but fatigue was beginning to take its toll, especially on Raven. In the past it had been uncharacteristic of her to have to trek such a long distances on foot, preferring instead to use her power of telepathic flight. The honing of her power was not a physical disincline either requiring only the inactive role of meditation and mental conditioning and in her spare time she preferred the relaxed reading of a book or a quiet cup of tea. She had grown too comfortable in her sedentary lifestyle, of all the Titans she was the most physically frail and now it was catching up with her.

The heavy firearm she carried was more a burden then a benefactor.

"Don't rest yet, we're almost there." Alexis could hear Raven's labored breathing

True to her word, they turned a corner and stepped out from the alley to arrive at a large area of open land. Surrounded by a fence, purposely designed to look antiquated, was a large open park complete with a trail that wormed its way past a water fountain, overgrown with moss, benches, bushes, and flower beds. The park was flanked on the left and right by open road while on the opposing side, from where the two girls stood, was the start of another maze.

Situated almost perfectly center in the midst of all this greenery was a single lone structure. It stood three stories tall; bleach white, with many windows wrapped around the outer wall each one covered by a frame of steel bars. It looked like an unholy union between a prison and insane asylum and was where Alexis was headed.

"What is this place?" Raven asked, already having a notion forming in her mind.

"Used to be called St. Jerome's hospital, but don't let the saintly name trick you, this was once THE hub for all of the city's criminally insane." There was a background of repugnance in Alexis' answer, understandable considering the place.

"Figures" Raven signed under breath. It was indeed a prison and insane ward, not only that, it was the place she'd gotten Dr. Light committed to, once upon a time. The place was abandoned, so it was unlikely she would run into the man here, still it gave her chills under her skin.

"Why are we going there?" Was the next logical question on Ravens' lips.

"Supplies" a simple answer

"What?"

"I don't know,' Alexis was sarcastic, "Maybe because I thought you were the type of person who preferred to protect herself. Besides how can I protect someone I can't bear to look at? Have you seen yourself lately?"

Alexis critically appraised Raven, who indeed did look like a frail and submissive prisoner. The wound on her face had turned into a large ugly bruise, but the swelling was going down. Strangely it seemed to go from her face to her hand where the burnt red skin was beginning to blister in places. Both discolored inflictions stood notably apart from her natural pale skin. All this added to her dirty prisoners outfit and the fact she still walked slightly hunched at the stomach, where a large bruise had also formed invisible under the clothes, the overall effect made her look very sickly indeed and weak too, no need for Raven to act the part anymore.

Alexis found this repulsive to behold, it reminded her too much of the time she had once lived with her father years ago, but she didn't tell Raven that.

"But why here?" Raven chose to ignore Alexis' malicious remark.

"Have you noticed how the guards avoided all the ways we passed through?"

"Yes."

"Well they don't come her either, the perfect place to stockpile extra supplies."

"You haven't told me they avoid coming here?"

"Why don't you tell me? You already have an idea why, right?"

"It's because there is something in the shadows, something that have been following us since we entered."

"A little present the 'spiders' brought with them."

In very much the same way that rats on Earth will sometimes find their way onto departing ships, living onboard as they were transported across the sea, and finally disembarking to take up residence in other lands. These creatures who now lived in the dark corners of the city as arrived in very much the same fashion. The popular name for these creatures amongst the resistance was the explanatory name of Shadow Beasts, or just Beasts. They only came out at night or in places where the sun was a lacking resource, the reason behind Alexis' avoidance of all of the really dark areas.

"The sun will still be up for at least another hour," Alexis pointed up with a single digit to emphasize her point, "As long as we are quick, I can get you some new clothes," she absentmindedly brushed some imaginary dirt from her uniform, "a better weapon and we'll still make it out of the city before nightfall."

"Why didn't you tell me about these beasts before?" Raven was upset at not being informed of all the dangers.

"You didn't ask," Alexis kicked herself mentally, what a cliché response.

"What a cliché response." Raven rolled her eyes.

"There was no other way to escape." Alexis approached the fence and began pulling on each bar, testing for structural strength. "Besides I've never seen one for myself."

"You've never seen one?" Raven's eyebrows shot with surprise at this unexpected rejoinder.

"Most people don't live after encountering one."

"Rigghht…" Raven didn't sound convinced.

But Alexis didn't have a reply to Raven's cynical suspicions, after testing five different bars she finally found the one she was looking for. One of the bars was cleanly severed from the rest of the structure and reattached with a weak adhesive 'goop' to hide its unique status amongst its brothers. A single tug removed the pole, the goop coming with it, stretching out like the melted cheese on an oven fresh pizza. It opened a gap big enough for the two girls to squeeze through sideways.

Now on the other side of the fence, Alexis returned the pole to its home, the adhesive providing enough support to hold it in its proper place.

"It's part of the 'network' that the spiders put into play. Normal weapons only have a marginal effect. If I could use my ice elemental power I would have no fear of these beasts, however, the 'network' would pick up my energy release and that's when the real trouble begins."

"Then the beasts also make patrolling the city easier for them, by allowing them to only stick with the streets and residential areas." Raven added.

"Exactly. But it gets even worse, there have been many rumors of prisoners being disposed of by being fed to the beasts."

Raven nodded in agreement, there usually was a hint of truth in rumors, but considering everything she'd seen and heard about the spiders and the occupation she could almost believe any rumor she heard about them.

…………………………………………………………………………………

They didn't enter the sanitarium by the front door, as Raven was expecting. It actually made sense though; since entering the main doorway, or even the backdoor would expose them to great risk of being spotted by civil patrols making their rounds on the streets. Raven and Alexis ran in a nice straight line right up to the side of the building that was closest to them.

An old air conditioning unit sat quietly on this side of the building, right next to a pair of wooden basement doors that laid angled against wall and the ground, leading into an underground room.

"We're going down there?" Raven pointed to the basement doors, Alexis nodded and extracted a flat-headed screwdriver from her pocket. "Remember what you said about Beasts living in dark places?"

"Of course I do." Alexis began loosening several screws strategically placed around the rusted head of the conditioner unit.

The lid of the unit make a rustic popping sound as the final screw was loosed and pulled free. The lid was slightly bent downward in the center, as if something heavy had been dropped on it once. Inside, neatly stored away was a small diesel generator and alongside it were several 2-gallon gas containers. There also existed a bundle of thin black wires that sprouting from the back of the unit and boring into the moist dirt.

Alexis didn't need to explain the generators purpose; Raven was smart enough to figure it out. As she checked the fuel level before and pumped the primer, Raven kept watch, making sure no one else was around or approaching.

"Get ready to put the lid on right after I start the generator." Alexis instructed when she grabbed the generator's ripcord. Raven complied by lifting the conditioner top onto the edge of the unit. Alexis pulled the ripcord and the generator gave a few protesting gurgling churns before returning to its initial resting state. Alexis pulled the cord again, and was rewarded with the generator spurting into new life.

Raven quickly slid the top back into position, the generator made a content sound of a machine at the peak of well oiled performance as it worked its designated role, but to Raven it was tantamount with an 18-wheeler grinding its gears as it down shifted on the highway. It was doubtful that anyone, even if they stood 10 feet away, could hear the generator's merry chug-chugging, but better safe than sorry.

They opened the basement doors, positioned right behind them was a small set of cement stairs flowing down at an almost dangerously steep angle. The girls couldn't see much of anything in the gloom that immediately followed. Alexis kicked a small light switch that had been installed into frame next to and above the first cement step soon alleviated that situation.

The darkness was vanquished under a tsunami of light that exploded forth from a plentiful sum of light fittings installed in the shadow oppressive underground. There had been something hidden in the shadows, maybe it had been waiting for them, or had made the underground its home, it let out an inhuman scream of disturbed distress as the light washed over it stripping away the natural camouflage. The sound rang in Raven's ears like a hot needle being driven through her eardrum. This inhuman creature broke into a blind run, smashing against the walls as if it were a cage, the sounds of objects scattering powerfully to all corners before it made a impetuous exit deep into the bowls of the sanitarium, letting loose a howl of a million curses before the reverberation of its presence disappeared. All of this lasted only a few seconds, and not once did they ever catch even a shadow of a glimpse.

Raven stood at the mouth of the basement, her heart near desperate to escape by punching its way through her ribs. The sudden violent flight of the unseen creature had caught her by complete surprise. If that was what a shadow beast sounded like, never did she want to lay eyes upon its true form, ever. She tried unsuccessfully to control her breathing, to return to her self constructed state of calm fascia, but it would not be abated escaping in quick rapid gasps; she swallowed uneasily.

Alexis didn't fare much better, even given her training and experience, the stories she had heard, the rumors and chance sightings could not express the terror just one of these creatures could cause just from hearing it. Both girls hesitated to be the first to descend the stairs. When the eerie sound of a siren approaching arrived within hearing distance and making its way steadily in their direction, both of them nearly fell over each other in their scramble down the stairs. Closing the doors behind them, they stood in another forced silence as they listened to the agonizingly slow passing of the sirens overhead.

But the vehicle wasn't going to pass them by; there was a squeal of tires as it came to a sudden halt on the street above. The humming of the vehicle's powerful engine idling was loud enough even to be heard at this distance. A few moments passed before a new sound emerged, a rapid and muffled thumping that reminded Raven of popcorn popping in a metal pot.

Glass shattered in a hail of deadly shards, wood split, and plaster cracked, as supersonic bullets and lasers peppered the whole front of the sanitarium. The guards were painting the whole building with a colossal amount of firepower, causing the whole building to shake at its foundations.

A brief pause in the assault signaled the guards reloading their weapons for a second barrage of military might; a second wave that never came. The vehicle's engine revved a few times, before the tires gripped pavement and propelled the transporter into a sudden high speed increase of velocity down the city street, its siren announcing an emergency the whole way.

Once all sounds of its existence had faded into the background, the girls gave twin sighs of relieve, not realizing that they had been holding their breath the whole time. They were fortunate that the underground basement was the only place spared the inherent destruction.

…………………………………………………………………………………

In the basement there was a second set of stairs, from where the girls had entered it was against the opposite wall running and to the left and leading to the floors above. At the top a door, slightly ajar gently swung back and forth in its hinges. Raven found herself continuously checking the door for anyone or anything that might be looking at them from the gap.

The room was lined completely in cement and vast arrays of pipes and machinery that once provided the building with all the necessary utilities. While necessary, they were cramped together in a chokehold across the entire room, allowing only a few small gaps for people to walk around. But there was no sign of the creature, apart from the large mess it had left behind; a single metal shelf that had been overturned by its frantic running about, scattering plastic bottles and canisters of paint all around in random patterns along with assorted painting tools and materials.

There were also signs of someone having once lived in this highly confined space. It must not have been too long ago, there were opened TV dinner containers and cans of instant soup, some still wet from just having been eaten and none old enough to begin the molding process. Also in a corner was an old bed mattress torn with age with most of the inner stuffing gone and a majority of the springs bent and misshapen from use. The bed was heavily stained with old blood and bandages, also saturated, were clumped into a wad and discarded to the side. There was no sign of a body, hopefully whoever it had been hadn't been caught by the creature.

"Oh great someone has been through the food supplies." Alexis whined as she shuffled amongst the stored provisions. From the steep stairwell entrance, immediately to the right was a set of three lockers and a two wooden crates taking up precious space amongst all the utility pipes. The lockers looked like they had been stolen from some school, ripped right out of the wall, while the crates were heavily damaged from repeated abuse, the word 'supplies' was stenciled in black paint along the sides.

Alexis scrounged through one such crate that contained a months worth of food, ranging from such dining delights as vacuum-sealed TV dinners, cans of soup, to the universal containers of spam. Strangely the cans of spam remained untouched, there wasn't a one opened, at least what Raven could see.

"I worked hard getting all this stuff here!" Alexis was beside herself with barely restraint frustration. "I can be generous, but they have to ask! It's MY food!"

Raven just left Alexis to her one sided ramblings, instead finding the lockers to be far more interesting. Opening the first of three, she discovered it packed full of clothes, shirts and pants all neatly folded. The next two lockers contained a modest selection of coats, undergarments, and accessories. All were worn with age and use, some stained with unidentifiable substances, but all the items were clean and could still provide a useful purpose. It was like browsing over the assortment from a low-end thrift store in one of Jump city's red-light districts, you certainly wouldn't find this stuff in the mall.

Alexis wouldn't mind if Raven helped herself to some new clothes, which is what she did. Besides Alexis was too busy complaining over the food, which she seemed to find much more important.

Raven was not picky when it came to clothes. The only thing she really wanted was something warm since it had become increasingly colder as the sun went down. Stripping down to her undergarments, she uncaringly discarded her prisoner uniform to the side, grateful to finally be free of it. Without delay she inspected the wound on her stomach, a disfigured circular bruise stood angrily apart from her pale skin, to the left and slightly overlapping her navel. When she touched it, she felt nothing back.

Not wanting to spend a lot of time choosing a new wardrobe, she instead picked out the first article of clothing that caught her attention. It only took a short eight minutes to arrive at her final uniform choice and what she ended up with was basic, but practical and most of all, functional.

Denim jeans, probably once an onyx black color now faded to a navy blue shade, were a little big around her waist but were held in place with the utility belt Raven had lifted from one of the guards. She also donned a normal white t-shirt and then wore over that a collarless, long-sleeve, button down coat. She wasn't sure what the coat was made of, though it had a similar feel to it as her jeans did, and while desiring only the one glove to protect her burnt hand, she wore the pair so as not appear uneven; a pair of black biker gloves with a velcro strap to adjust the fit. She'd also changed her undergarments for cleaner ones, but it was a mute detail since no one on the outside would be able to notice that.

…………………………………………………………………………………

In the meantime Alexis, having managed to settle down from her fight with food frustration, set about the task of finding Raven a better weapon in the second crate, where the rest of the arsenal were stored. The rifle, although powerful, was too heavy for Raven to wield with accuracy and speed. She needed something lighter, something easier to use yet still possessed enough firepower to take on a spider. But there wasn't anything in here that could meet all three requirements. They were underpowered, too heavy, too complex, or a combination of the three.

The sun was quickly sinking below the horizon; she had to remind herself again that she didn't have a lot of time to hang around this place. Ideally, they needed to avoid all contact with spiders and their machines; their most likely foe at this point was the cops patrolling the streets, which didn't require an overabundance of firepower. With that in mind, a simple pistol should be adequate for the new arrival, at least until they arrived at the resistance camp where they would probably recruit her on the spot to run far more dangerous missions. But she didn't tell Raven that.

Alexis pulled out a small 9mm pistol, plus three-eighteen round clips, and was about to say something along the lines of 'I got a present for you,' when the lights went out.

…………………………………………………………………………………

Without warning the room was once again plunged into a self-sustaining night. It was impossible to tell if the wire had been severed or the generator had given up the spark, but the result was the same.

Neither said anything. The darkness had swallowed up their voices along with the last rays of light. Their ears were the only ally they had in this pit, strained for the slightest hint of anything out of the ordinary. But all they heard was water flowing through the pipes while the door heading up into the sanitarium squeaked noisily on its hinges as a breeze pushed it back and forth.

There was someone else in the room, Raven felt it the instant her finger wrapped around the cold trigger of the rifle. She didn't know when her arms had moved on their own, lifting the rifle strap from around her neck. Maybe it was just her fear manifesting itself in her imagination, but the room seemed to become more constricted and far colder than it had a moment before. Raven wanted to run, holding mastery over fear was probably her hardest and most common task she'd ever faced. This time, somehow, she found the strength within to keep herself calm

There was an upsurge of movement; something flew across the room passing in front of Raven, missing her by mere centimeters. Alexis screamed falling backwards under the power of her attacker her back trapped between the beast and a utility pipe. It growled and hissed at her, she could feel its hot breath on her face. Fear clutched her throat and her scream dissolved into a whimper. The pistol in her hands clicked furiously, it was all happening so fast she hadn't had time or sense to load it.

Raven tried aiming for the beast by sound alone, but was hesitant at the risk of killing Alexis. Lifting the barrel upwards she pulled off a single round towards the ceiling. "Shumm!" The bolt was loud in the enclosed space staining the room in a crimson glow for a fraction of a second before diffusing harmlessly against the ceiling. It was enough for the creature to reevaluate the primary threat.

The creature lifted its legs and pushed itself off Alexis, using her to launch itself at Raven. The powerful shove caused Alexis to stumble off of the pipe's cylindrical shape, she fell backwards her head thrashed the sharp corner of a crate. She squirmed in pain, hands cradling her head. The pistol also had vanished from her hands, flying somewhere in the dark, out of reach.

The beast dashed through the air, diving at Raven like a wild bird of prey, it managed to clip Raven on the shoulder sending her spiraling helplessly onto the ground. Her back hit the concrete hard she bent forward to regain her footing but the beast was on her instantly, pinning her arms to the side, crushing her under its weight. Using only her wrist, she attempted to bring the gun to bear on the creature, but its length and weight was working against her like someone had placed an anvil on the end of it. It didn't matter how powerful the gun was if she couldn't even lift it to aim properly.

Her legs were still free; she kicked and kicked, trying with all her might to throw this creature free from her body. Yet, the more she fought, the more the pressure on her chest increased.

It was trying to suffocate her!

Did the beast enjoy its food better when it was warm and alive?

She was nobody's dinner, she wanted to scream in defiance but it was difficult to breath. Stars danced before her eyes while a fire was burning in her lungs; a sure sign the creature was winning. Her struggles became weaker and her vision narrowed. This was not how she wanted to die. Killed by some unknown and unseen enemy in the basement of an abandoned asylum.

Using the last of her strength her fingers tightened around the trigger and pulled off three, four, five, shots, the room detonating under the flare of radiant crimson. Her strength exhausted she dropped the rifle. In her final moments there was no emotion, no desires or fears only an inner peace of mind and soul. She did not want to die alone. Her friends were still out there somewhere, she had to find them it was her duty to find them. Not so much for their sake as her own; how selfish of her.

Her mind and body became numb, the world shrunk behind the veil of an unnatural slumber and faded into darkness impenetrable.

…………………………………………………………………………………

But it was split open gloriously into vivacity and reality came rushing back to Raven in a burst of of color and life. Air filled her lungs as the obdurate pressure was suddenly lifted from her chest. Her own gasps filled the room and she wanted to vomit, but managed to hold it in through willpower. Arising uneasily into a sitting position she drank in the musty air of the basement as if it was the most pure air she'd ever breathed.

The room was no longer cast into darkness. The basement doors stood ajar allowing the weak light of the evening sun to filter in.

"Raven!" A familiar voice shouted in elation before a pair of arms wrapped around her neck in an embrace both joyous and distressed. "I knew I would find you!"

Raven relaxed, as her heart welcomed into an embrace of calm and delight.

"Its good to see you too, Beast Boy." She eagerly returned the embrace and smiled in spite of the grisly sight before her. There, behind BB, marinating in a pool of its own dark blood lay the lifeless corpse of the creature that had attacked her.

Its throat had been torn out.

And Beast Boys hands were covered in gore.

He had savagely slain the beast without hesitation or remorse. In her heart Raven was beginning to understand that this was the BB she had been searching for, that she cared for, but simultaneously was no longer the same carefree and loving individual as he had once been.

"What has happened to you BB?" Raven wondered as tears began to flow from her eyes; she hugged him tighter afraid to let go.

What had this mad world turning them into?


	6. Highway 17 part 2

Teen Titans: Trigon Apotheosis

Chapter 6 – Highway 17 (part 2-Beast Boy's Story)

Beast Boy was a vegetarian; that much about him hadn't changed one jot. He had been on the run from the guards when he stumbled across Alexis' stash of goods in his search for a rest stop. That had been nearly a week ago and since then he had helped himself to all the food. Even so, a can of soup and a vacuum dinner were poor performers when it came to abating his hunger, but he refused to touch the cans of spam. He would rather starve to death than eat the flesh of an animal he had once been himself.

Raven embraced Beast Boy and it was as if time stood still, there were no words to describe her relief. Released from their embrace, the two companions began conversing as if never having really been separated in the first place, having narrowly escaped an ultimate end.

To Raven is seemed as if they had only been apart for a single day and if one day of separation could cause her so such uncontrollable rapture, then she couldn't imagine what fierce emotions BB was going through, because for him it had been nearly 7 months since he'd last been with her.

When the wall of lava fell upon him, the last thing he remembered was a flash of a strobe light before time began to slow to an indefinite halt. The molten rock so close to his face he could easily reach out and touch it, which he did. When his hand cautiously tapped that surface the once liquid had become a firm and unyielding wall. Moreover the cooking heat had broken and reversed to a comfortable room temperature.

He was still very much alive, but he couldn't understand what had just happened. He didn't care if he never did understand it, surviving it was the only thing he cared for. But what about the others, were they also experiencing the same aversion of reality as he? He shouted out to the other Titans, turning to confer their continued existence.

Evaporating like a drop of water sizzling on a hot grill, the suspended image around him disappeared and reformed into something new and completely dissimilar.

He found himself in the sterile interior of a city hospital. The more he looked around his new environs, the more he realized that there was nothing overly special about it; it looked like any other infirmary that could be found in any of the major cities spread across America. Why did it seem so familiar, like he had been there once before. He thought about, hard. Normally the gears in his head didn't turn for long, he reasoned too much thinking wore out the brain faster, but this seemed important enough to work his brain overtime.

To his friends, BB was best known for his impulsiveness, crazy ideas, and a long history of not looking before he leapt, but even they would admit, providing you could force them into admit to it, that BB could be quite perceptive and insightful at times.

This was one of those times. He did indeed remember the hospital for what it was.

It had been two years ago, the incident involving the unexplained nuclear detonation.

He had been dying from exposure to a fatal amount of radiation poisoning. His parents, desperate to save him, handed him over to science to test a prototype healing treatment. It was here, in this place, where his life was saved, but at a cost. He had lost part of his humanity and became something else, something alien.

It was the day Garfield Logan became Beast Boy.

Not that he was complaining much, now. In a strange way it had all turned out for the best, in the long run. He was an official member of the Teen Titans and proud of the fact he was making a difference in the world. That's how he felt, now.

But back then, two years ago, it was a whole other story. When he had awoken to find himself change in so many ways, well, he lost it. He said and did many things that were harsh and cruel. For awhile he went wild with his powers and caused all sorts of mayhem and heartache for his friends and family. But his parents never stopped loving him, but it had taken some time before he could understand that.

BB had made a promise that should he ever again met the doctors who had saved him, he would thank them and apologize for all the trouble he'd caused and all the terrible things he'd said.

But he couldn't remember their names. Well, at least not right away, first he had to wind the mental clockwork for a bit. Dr. Intou and Dr. Knives.

Dr. Knives? His mind immediately made the connection, but it was impossible. The Dr. Knives he had known was a man probably somewhere in his mid 40's and could not be the Knives 'Xavier' that had grown up with Raven. As for Dr. Intou, hadn't Raven made mention of that name once before back when everyone had been merrily wandering through Nevermore?

It was all very confusing, which was why BB dropped the subject, his brain overtax already. Besides, there was a more important situation going on right at that moment requiring his immediate attention.

When the woman approached him.

…………………………………………………………………………………

The hospital was an empty shell, devoid of all the usual collection of people you normally would expect to fill such a place, but there was the woman. She had appeared out of nowhere, as if as if in a dream or a nightmare. She approached him, skin of blackest pitch, talked to him even, a voice of infinite blue. He wanted to ask her about who she was, but found himself frozen within the beautiful and enigmatic waves of her voice.

"We meet at last, Beast Boy," she said, "I imagine you have many questions, but I will only say that I have need to enlist the services of the Teen Titans…" she paused, then shook her head, "Well that's not entirely true. I only wish the aid of four of the Titans, the other two, well, not to sound cruel, serve me no purpose."

The woman reached into her pocket and pulled out a diamond shaped crystal amethyst, similar to the one that adorned Raven's forehead, in fact it was one and the same.

"This belonged to your friend Raven I believe," she appraised the gem, "It is not her time to be released yet, the pieces are not yet in place. You on the other hand, Beast Boy, will tell her, when you meet her, that if she wishes to recover this," she juggled the gem between her fingers, "she will come to the Citadel, the place where her destiny awaits her."

BB suddenly felt an irresistible urge to sleep. It came upon him so fast he hadn't realized he'd fallen into a deep slumber until he awoke to find the hospital was gone and he was hundreds of miles away from Jump City and nearly five months had passed without him.

…………………………………………………………………………………

So for the past seven months BB had been journeying from one temporary refuge to another working the solo hero routine while desperately searching for the whereabouts of his friend. Along the way he had witnessed many atrocities committed in the name of the Spider Queen Lloth. Whole cities reduced to craters of rubble, people massacred, and once fertile land transformed into harsh wasteland.

He had arrived at a time when most of the fiercest battles were still ongoing all around the world between the aliens and humans. The aliens had been capturing one city after another in a tireless push for domination. Those who were captured and not immediately slaughtered only prayed that the worst that awaited them was slave labor in the dark factories of the alien war machine, developing weapons for use in the elimination of their fellow man. Many, mostly the children, the sick, and elderly were taken to Nova Prospekt wherein they were subjected like lab rats in the development and testing of viral weaponry and other hideous biological experiments.

Only those who freely pleaded their loyalty were given rule over their fellow man. The HIVE was the first, and they were followed by thousands of people who had secretly supported HIVE when it had just been a quiet, low-key, operation. To this day many continued to plead fealty to their new masters, hundreds more almost daily.

It was all too much for Beast Boy to handle. He chickened out of the lone hero business; he just wasn't as useful without backup and decided it was best to make a living in another career, but mostly to hide his shame at his inability to make a noticeable difference. For a time he dropped out of the public eye.

Six months had passed since his jump through time, meaning the war was now entering its eleventh consecutive month. Things began to calm down, the worst of the fighting was over for now but border skirmishes and minor uprisings were still breaking out all over the place. There was no telling when the next major battle would take place; everywhere there was a sense of imminent change.

Rumors and gossip saturated the airwaves, no one could agree or understand why the aliens inexplicably stopped dead in their tracks when they were on the eve of victory. The only thing anyone could reach a decision on was that they seemed to be waiting for something to happen.

It was also around this time that rumors of the return of the Teen Titans began to circulate amongst friend and foe alike. BB could never understand why they hadn't started sooner; he hadn't exactly been subtle about his own return. Maybe he hadn't bragged enough or beaten enough bad guy behind to be recognized for who he was, on the other hand maybe he was the expendable one the black woman had spoken about before and this was her way of showing it.

He didn't like where his thoughts took him, he would make her recognize him and not cast him aside like a piece of moldy tofu.

…………………………………………………………………………………

"You still remembered that after seven months?" Alexis had quietly joined in on Beast Boy's story.

"I never forget a pretty girl."

"Did you actually see her?" Raven asked, perhaps a little too eager.

"Hah dude, not really, she was all outta focus like real bad. Kinda reminded me of a bug when it smacks against the windshield of Cyborg's car."

"Oh yeah you don't forget the pretty ones do ya." Alexis said blasé.

"Alright so I never really saw her, but no voice like that ever belonged to some putrid space demon."

"I saw her too, more or less." Raven interjected.

"I told ya she had a cosmic voice outta this world, right Rae."

"Absolutely stupendous," Raven tried not to sound too sarcastic, "what is this Citadel she told you about?"

"Search me," BB shrugged, then looked up expectantly as if Raven might actually do it. Too bad she had to disappoint him. "I didn't know that gem in your head was the source of your power. What is it, a giant battery?"

"It's a medium that allows me to gather and channel the dark energies, manipulating reality as I see fit. I suppose in a way it is like a battery."

"Duracell or Energizer?" BB smiled, Raven had walked right into that one.

"Or is it one of those crappy third party brands?" Alexis added with a chuckle.

"You should just buy another one. They sell em cheap at 7-11." BB had to bite his tongue to stop from laughing. The absence of her power signaled the opening of Raven hunting season. Now all the pranks and jokes he could never play on her before started to swirl about in his head; he was going to enjoy this and see just how far he could take it.

Raven however was slightly less than amused; any other day she would've turned Beast Boy into a pretzel; if that was how he wanted to play it, then she would have to find other ways to return the pain.

But that would have to wait, Beast boy was not finished with his story.

…………………………………………………………………………………

BB decided to make his way to Jump City on the off chance that if the rumors were true then the best place to go was Titans Tower. He hadn't been back there since this whole thing started, he wasn't even sure if it still existed. That was when he had discovered Alexis' stockpile while on the run from the guards.

Once they were convinced they had lost him, BB reappeared from hiding and slowly crept like a mouse, literally, to the tower.

…………………………………………………………………………………

"Hold it!" Alexis interrupted. "You used your transformation abilities and were not discovered.

"Its because I'm like the ninja, stealth through the night, immune to detection."

"I'm talking about the network!" Alexis grabbed BB by the lapel "Did you transform when you killed that beast? We could already be surrounded by death troops."

"N…no.." Beast Boy stuttered, "it doesn't work on me."

"What do you mean!"

"He means just what he said." Raven stepped in and forced Alexis to release her friend. "Now just calm down!"

"You don't understand, you don't know what they'll do to use if we are caught. Have you ever fought a Death trooper? You could not have conceived of anything more terrible in your worst nightmares!"

"It's ok, really," BB said trying to calm Alexis, "I'm telling the truth, 'it' doesn't pick up on me."

"Are you sure?" Alexis sounded very doubtful.

"Hey! I'm Beast Boy and a Teen Titan. I may play jokes and pranks on people, but I don't tell lies."

Color slowly refilled her face and despite her heavy breathing Alexis was in control once again.

"Did you see the Tower?" Raven changed topics.

"I saw it but that's all. The place is a fortress now. Sentries, turrets, motion sensors, laser fences, even mines in the water. They also cleared out a large part of the city and built a hanger for their ships."

"You're sure you checked every possible approach."

"Dude, I had a week to do it, of course I scoped it out from top to bottom. I even tried the sewers, but they're flooded with Hunters and Manhacks"

"What are those?" Raven asked.

"Robot bloodhounds with attitude and meat grinders on wings." Beast Boy enlightened her.

"Sounds pleasant…"

"Well," Alexis interrupted, "having wasted enough time, we need to make major headway rather than wait for another creature to ambush us, or before the network suddenly decides to do its job," doubtful as she was to Beast Boy's claim of immunity.

"I'll come with you." Like a spring BB jumped to his feet eager to leave this place behind.

"Where are we going from here?" Raven asked.

"The quickest way for us to join up with our allies is to use the car," when she said car, Alexis shook her hand in that so-so manner, "and closely follow Highway 17 all the way to the end."

"How far is that?"

"At max speed, barring any unforeseen situations or encounters with the local police, six hours. You'll find the only friendly outpost on this side of the demilitarized zone. You'll rest there for the night and get something to eat. After that it's another two days of nonstop travel until you get close to anyplace that a human can call safe these days."

"What's all this 'you'll' stuff? Are you not coming with us?"

"It's part of the deal." Alexis shrugged, "I'm not allowed past the outpost. They're afraid I'll like learn some big secrets and leak them to the spiders. Hmpph!"

"Are there any others like that?" BB was curious.

"About a dozen last I checked. Hey Beast Boy you should stay with me. If you really are immune to the network you could make my job a whole hell of a lot easier."

"He's coming with me." Raven forcefully stepped in.

"I wasn't asking you." Alexis didn't back down, "but I guess someone has to baby-sit you all the way home."

"Uhh, I really think that…" BB began to speak

"Stay out of this!" echoed the warning in stereo.


	7. Highway 17 part 3

Teen Titans: Trigon Apotheosis

Chapter 7 – Highway 17 (part 3-Departing Jump City)

The two girls stood erect and unyielding like statues, challenging the other with eyes full of conviction that their way was the best way. Had there been enough room in this crammed basement they would've been seen circling each other like murderous sharks hungry for blood.

Alexis wanting to make use of Beast Boys 'immunity' for her own benefit, what that was exactly she hadn't given any hints. While Raven wanted him to accompany her down Highway 17, but was that the only reason she had suddenly grown defensive. But far be it for BB to make that decision on his own, they had to go and strike up one of the deadliest stare down contests BB had ever seen, but there was no telling if it would turn violent or not. While they stood at odds with each other, there was no overriding reason why the two of them should fight each other.

Beast Boy watched mutely from the side; his desire was to stop them, but he was afraid that if she should attract their attention he'd find himself on the receiving end of their fury. He wasn't a glutton for punishment; only a fool would draw that much pain onto himself. Yes, best to let them take it out on each other.

In a way he was flattered that they were fighting over him, after all it wasn't everyday that two good-looking girls fought for the honor of having handsome Beast Boy accompany them to their destination.

"Dude, wish I had some popcorn." He thought, disappointed.

Still, BB hadn't known Alexis for very long, but he could appreciate that this did seem like something she'd do. However Raven, whom he had known for a far longer period of time, while he never really understood her very much, recognized that she was, at this moment, acting far out of character. She was the calm, reserved, and level headed one; on the contrary, she was behaving according to a personality that was far more emotional and unstable, a whole lot more. It must've had something to do with the loss of her powers, or the amethyst, or both.

Nevertheless the situation between the two female opponents, it had similar parallels to when Terra and Raven had confronted each other in a similar test of will. Only this time neither could use their powers, hopefully that would keep the destruction contained to the local surroundings, if it did indeed come to blows. Before it occurred Beast Boy had to make a decision, it was up to him after all, should he stay with Alexis or go with Raven.

He wanted to stay with Alexis; in his travels he had met and fought with a lot of people, both normal individuals and those who possessed supernatural powers. He never stayed with any of them for very long as his search for his friends always took him down a separate path than the others. But he was ok with that; he hated, no, loathed the idea of staying alongside them.

He had never felt so useless, never before in his life, and certainly not when he worked alongside, hand in hand, with the Titans. His 'gift' was lacking, and it seemed there always was someone superior. At this time he didn't know about his immunity to the network and as a result everyone believed that the use of his powers for reconnaissance inside enemy territory was out of the question.

He could become a bird, flying high to swoop down upon the enemy; fast and furious with one killer screech of 'death from above'.

How many others had he met that could fly too and do it better, with more agility, faster, higher, and for longer distances.

If BB needed strength then a gorilla, or even a rhino for ramming the jesus out of his enemy was suitable, and preferable, for the task. Again there were plenty of others who could outdo and outperform in all respects.

But perhaps his greatest failing was his complete deficiency for any form or method of long-range attack. He didn't posses star bolts, or sonic weaponry, or magic, or flaming laser eyes of doom. No, if he wanted to do some damage he had to get up close and personal with the enemy before he could lay the smack down; Jackie Chan style.

But in a war that relied on combined armies of massive starships, super sonic fighters, long-range artillery, and soldiers carrying guns and other schemes of delivering death at a distance, someone like Beast Boy was just unable to keep up.

The times had changed and left BB behind to choke on its dust.

No one ever said it but he could see it in their eyes. They really didn't need or care if he stayed and fought with them.

Alexis was the first one since the world had gone to hell that actually said that she could find a use for him. For that reason alone he was willing to accompany this almost complete stranger and do whatever was necessary, if it meant he would be recognized as someone who was both needed and useful.

"I'm going with Raven," his voice seemed unnaturally loud in his own ears.

But he chose Raven.

Why? He realized that he needed Raven as much as she needed him. She needed someone to protect her in her vulnerable state; Alexis couldn't do it while restrained by the deal she had made. BB needed a friend, someone he knew, and who knew him, to talk to, to confide in. Alexis couldn't give him that.

BB's resolve in the matter seemed to work; it pierced the veil of apathy that had been developing between the two girls.

Both Alexis and Raven visibly relaxed.

"Whatever." Alexis blew the whole thing off with a wave of her hand before walking up the basement stairs; Raven let her go without further harassment. Beast Boy turned to follow Alexis up; as he did he swore he saw Raven smile, ever so delicately.

"Just a trick of light and shadow," BB though and promptly forgot about it.

…………………………………………………………………………………

Outside the now chewed up sanitarium, Alexis was inspecting the generator; she was understandably interested as to why it had failed earlier. Her conclusion was that when the guards had generously supplied the entire building with a hail of firepower, a stray bullet or laser bolt had managed to puncture the generator's fuel line, as evidenced by the lake of malodorous smelling diesel flooding the interior of the air conditioner, and when the fuel ran out, well, the resulting blackout was the obvious result.

"Sorry about that," BB apologized.

"For what?" Alexis solicited.

"Well, it was kinda my fault."

"How so?"

Beast Boy explained the progression of events as follows: the real reason the guards had decided the sanitarium needed a drastic makeover was that they had observed BB running out of the building, who sought to steer clear of the creature that Alexis and Raven had disturbed when they'd started the generator and flooded the basement in halogen originating light. BB, with the guards in vehement pursuit, managed to loose them by poising as a fly perched on the top of a trashcan.

Returning to the sanitarium his natural curiosity commanded him to investigate the generator, which his ears, sensitive as a dog, could clearly picked up on. But as he drew closer the sound sputtered and stopped.

That's when he heard Alexis screamed.

His legs propelled him forward with renewed speed, like an athlete in the final stretch of a marathon, he ran to the top of the basement stairs where he witnessed Raven being pressed to death by a large shadow monster.

Beast Boy wanted to kill it, he wanted it dead; the feeling grew like a weed, taking control of his limbs and mind. A berserker rage overcame him as he became the Canis lupus; attacking with claws sharp as diamond and teeth that sought his to tear at his enemy's flesh. The creature had no chance to retaliate, before it felt the full impact of Beast Boy's unrestraint fury as the changeling boy sank his teeth deep into the beast's throat. His teeth alone inflicted a fatal wound on the creature, but he was not satisfied; with lighting reflexes and one mighty twist of his neck, Beast Boy ripped muscle and sinew from bone, the taste of dark blood filling his mouth. He spat it out like it was a poison.

The creature, now deprived of its trachea, violently struggled to breath as it's internal fluids became fully exposed to the open air, creating a pool that would mark it's final resting place.

After that, the rest was history.

…………………………………………………………………………………

Alexis just sighed and shook her head, bringing the first generator here had been a task almost more troublesome than it was worth. Where in hell would she be able to find a suitable replacement now and what of the mess that Beast Boy had left in the basement, who was going to clean that up?

…………………………………………………………………………………

Alexis had never seen a shadow beast before. She approached the corpse cautiously, half expecting it to only be feigning death despite the impossible seeming amount of blood on the ground.

True to its name, the creature's skin was a natural camouflage; like paper about to tear from the mammoth muscles that stretched and bulged out from its cat-like frame. Its hind legs were notably longer than it's front, it always seemed ready to pounce on its prey when it stood. Beady red eyes were set like precious gems into a skull that was ninety percent knife laced maw.

Its mouth was massive for it's size, that of a large Doberman, Alexis reckoned that if she curled up like a cannonball, this thing could easily carry her in its mouth, probably could swallow her whole too. Its outer ring of teeth took lessons after the great saber tooth tiger, enormous dagger like incisors, molars like bear traps. Two other rows of teeth followed the first, each one successively smaller than the one that preceded it, but no less deadly.

It was easy to see why most people who encountered one didn't survive.

Well, at least she would have quite the story to tell Speedy next time she saw him.

…………………………………………………………………………………

The sun had departed and the streetlights were the dominant force by the time the three teenagers reached their destination; a Northern Petrol gas station situated on the outskirts of Jump City. All the glass windows were broken and the interior of the convenience store was ransacked clean of all food, drink, and miscellaneous items normally sold in such a place. The door to the bathroom was even ajar with the smell of a septic tank blowing from it.

There were two garages, both closed, where mechanics had once practiced their trade on ailing customer autos, once upon a time. A nearby road sign said that the beginning of Highway 17 was a single mile to the east.

"The best part about it, I don't have to pay for gas." Alexis smiled as she used a key to unlock one of the garages.

Inside, looking like something put together in a hurry from materials scrounged out of a junkyard, was the car Alexis had spoken so 'fondly' of. It was a hybrid of a go-kart and buggy; with everything optional stripped off leaving only the skeletal frame. Apart from the frame were two seats without cushions, four wheels outfitted with tires almost worn bald, and a steering wheel. It certainly was no Cyborg special; the engine being the only saving grace on this piece of glued together scrap. The engine looked clean and well maintained. Probably weighted more than the rest of the buggy combined, even.

"I see you chose the super savers economy discount package." BB wanted to laugh, but something about the advanced state of wear and rust the frame was experiencing just took all the humor out of it.

"Very funny, just help me pull it out."

"Are you sure it's going to run? I mean, dude, its pathetic in every way I can imagine."

"I don't have to imagine something more pathetic." Alexis glared at BB.

"You took the words right out of my mouth." Agreed Raven.

…………………………………………………………………………………

"Ok," Alexis began after the car had been fueled, checked, and was more or less ready to go. "Here's a map, I've traced the route you need to follow."

BB opened the map, studying it closely with Raven. Indeed there was a line drawn with red marker bisecting through the map, following closely to Highway 17, occasionally cutting across the it. The map was also filled with scribbles and notes describing in intimate detail exactly where they needed to go and what landmarks to look out for.

"What does OS mean?" BB asked about a two-letter acronym that was written at the very end of the red line.

"That's were your headed, what we call Outpost Sigma. It's a real military base, don't remember its original name, but you'll know your there when you see It." she answered straightforward.

"And these?" Raven pointed out two circled Ws placed at about one-third distance and two-thirds distance.

Alexis was about to reply; Be-ep, the sound of a radio crackled nearby. Three heads immediately whipped around to look in the direction from which the sound had originated, but didn't see anything or anyone moving.

"Well," Alexis hesitated, "It's not common, but gunships have been known to occasionally patrol along the trail, most often at those points statistically speaking."

"Is that all?" Raven said sardonically, but shifted nervously.

"The Ws are weapon caches that the resistance laid down in case agents in transit were spotted and needed some extra firepower."

"I can imagine my weapon," Raven felt the 9mm beretta holstered on her belt, "wouldn't be much help against one of these gunships." Raven doubted she would ever get used to having such a weapon resting against her hip.

"Try throwing marbles at a tank, you'd get about as far."

"What if we're spotted and not near one." BB questioned.

"Simple, survive until you DO reach one."

"Your not much help, I could've thought of that." BB jibed in return.

"Quit whining like a dog, you need to leave," Alexis paused; "Now!" she forcefully commanded in a normal tone, while trying to act as if nothing was amiss.

"What's wrong?"

"The guards are waiting to ambush us." Raven had to resist the urge to point in the direction she was talking about, "That noise came from one of their radios." She slid into the driver's seat; the key already in the ignition.

"Right." Alexis confirmed, "I can distract them, but you need to get out of here before they call in a gunship or worse." Alexis pulled out an MP5 automatic from somewhere deep in the limits of her jacket, a clip already loaded; she extended the stock for added support.

"This is my favorite weapon," she primed the bolt and switched the weapon to a three round burst, "the H&K MP5A3 9mm. Did you know it used to be standard for elite law enforcement agencies worldwide?" A bit of an irony since Alexis hated the police in all its manifestations and never failed to make light that fact,

But God, they had some of the coolest weapons.

There was a repeated crackle of an enemy radio, followed by the splintering of a wooden door from a nearby building, probably once served as tenements. Like a herd escaping through a hole in the fence, three squads of guards stampeded from the building. Each clad in full armor dress, the light from their night vision goggles glowing eerily in the night giving them a frightening glare when they looked at you. Focused exclusively on the three teenagers they split into two groups, seeking to outflank their quarry. One of them, probably the leader, shouted something at them, but none of the teenagers felt compelled to listen to what he had to say.

"What about you?" BB hurried into the passenger seat, his hand reaching for one of three grenades Alexis had given him before they had left the sanitarium.

Alexis had turned away from BB to face the oncoming stampede, placed the stock of her weapon against her right arm joint, and quickly, elegantly, squeezed off three-three round bursts. The wave of high-speed armor piercing rounds impacted into the chest plates of three of the guards, killing two and providing the third with a wheelchair for life. In tune with the clink-clinking of nine spent bullet casings, the guard's legs folded beneath their bodies falling lifeless or injured to the pavement, and promptly trampled upon by their comrades.

The guards returned fire; bullets and laser lit the night sky in a pulse of light and exhaust fire. Alexis, still firing her weapon, ran down to the left successfully drawing the majority of the enemy's fire away from the others. Flames erupted from the MP5's barrel as a dozen more projectiles were sent ripping through the night air, slaying another two guards in an explosion of red and shrill cries of a life cut short.

Raven was frozen where she sat, watching Alexis with a combination of fascination and shock. The ease with which Alexis pulled the trigger and ended a human life, one after another and another, with no remorse or hesitation was almost too frightening to look at.

Even Beast Boy had killed with finality that to hear him talk about it he sounded relieved, nay, proud of what he'd done. The Teen Titans, both teams of the past, never purposely killed their enemy. Even Robin didn't seek to murder Slade, despite his obsession over the mysterious felon or, to a lesser extent, any other criminal for that matter. It was this higher, guilt free, moral code that separated them from the malicious villains they so often put their own lives on the line to fight and make the city all the more secure.

When had the business of dispensing final judgment and death become so easy?

Because this was war!

Raven had been aware, yet somehow the true reality had remained buried in her psyche and she, like a child, had refused to dig it up and gaze upon its changed and hideous surface. She hadn't wanted to acknowledge the despairing fact that she was no longer part of a local crime fighting force, but a player in the battle for all of the Earth and Humanity from a far superior alien force. There was no going back to how it used to be, somehow she was able to finally accept that fact.

It was impossible for her to remain stuck in the past; she had to embrace the future no matter what came her way. She had to adapt and survive, if not for herself then for her friends whom she had sworn to find and protect. BB though he was protecting her, no they protected each other, supported each other as they had always in the past. If this was what she wanted, what they wanted, then it would require a far higher level of conviction and dedication than before. An angel falling from grace, or a demon returning to its primal instincts, it didn't matter, she did it for the future for her friends who had always accepted her for who she was and given her a home and companionship.

Raven pulled the small firearm from its holster and with her newfound confidence pulled the trigger once, twice, a total of four times. A soldier fell, as two bullets found their way into and through his sternum, inflicting a mortal wound.

She had crossed the line; there truly was no return. Sadness at her fall from grace welled inside her but she fought back the tears. She would no longer cry but would become stronger than she ever had before, powers or not.

…………………………………………………………………………………

Raven turned the key and the buggy's engine roared to life, barely heard above all the gunfire. Beast Boy unclipped a grenade and with the speed of a pro pulled the primer pin and chucked the grenade in the direction of the enemy. It soared overhead, like a baseball hit for a homerun.

Several of the guards shouted warnings to each other before scattering in all directions. The grenade came down and there was an vehement explosion of smoke, fire, and lethal shrapnel as the grenade detonated with irresistible force, killing another guard who had been too slow and hadn't had time to heed his teammates warnings.

Raven felt a slight ringing in her ears as the rapid expansion of compressed air dulled her hearing temporarily.

Inertia acting upon their bodies, Beast Boy and Raven were forced back into the uncomfortable seats as Raven drove the gas pedal all the way down. The tires shrieked leaving thick black marks on the road as they fought to grip the pavement; the smell of burnt rubber assaulted their nostrils until the buggy exploded into a sudden and surprising rush of forward momentum. Despite it's aged look, the humble buggy had the speed and handling of a NASCAR racer.

As they raced down the mile towards the mouth of Highway 17 there was a second enormous detonation behind them as the volatile gas inside the pumps was spontaneously ignited sending a colossal fireball upwards lighting the whole city in a spectacular fireworks display of yellow, orange, and red. The shockwave quickly traveled outward and struck the car like a sledgehammer, knocking it over to the side and up onto two wheels for a brief heart stopping moment, before it settled back down with a back popping crunch.

BB looked back amongst the ruins of the burning gas station and caught one last glimpse of Alexis, limping a retreat down the backside of an indiscriminate building, her weapon screaming a song of death on full auto; light reflecting sharply off the seemingly never-ending river of bullet casings that surged from the automatic's side.

…………………………………………………………………………………

Four hours later… 

Raven was clueless how Beast Boy managed to sleep through the constant bumping and grinding. While the buggy's speed and performance were respectable, it had the suspension of a demolition derby rig. Every rock, twig, and hole sent the vehicle bobbing violently up and down and to the sides. They were also riding pretty low to the ground; at times the bottom of the vehicle gave a metal shriek as it scrapped the ground or upon various object that managed to pass between the wheels. None of this concerned Beast Boy, he just slumbered away in a placid sleep.

Alexis said it would take them six hours at maximum speed, but the path they followed was so rough and uneven it made top speed a danger to achieve. Turning a six-hour trip into eight, possibly nine hours.

Raven had been driving the whole distance, never stopping once for a break. The buggy's headlights were more like flashlight that had been taped to the frame, providing the least possible illumination necessary to see was directly in front of her, which mostly consisted of packed dirt, rocks, and shallow brush. Occasionally they passed by the rotting shells of tanks, vehicle, and other such military equipment. But out here, away from the city, the night sky was full of stars; clear as far as the eye could see, an endless peaceful sea of serene stars.

Under normal circumstances she would've found it soothing to watch. But she watched it for another reason entirely. Every once in a while a star would blink, what she meant was that it would suddenly be extinguished, like a blown out candle, only to re-ignite a moment later, then its neighbor would follow the same signal. Something was passing in front of the stars, consuming them whole and to spitting them out as it moved.

It made several circular sweeping trails around the sky. It seemed to be looking for something, or someone, Raven only hoped that it wasn't them.

Raven turned the headlights off and relaxed off the accelerator. It was doubtful that the object flying overhead could see the scrawny sum of light the buggy was capable of or hear the workings of the engine but she didn't want to risk it

But it was too little too late, the object let loose a massively bright searchlight that touched down right in Raven's face. Her hand snatched up to protect her eyes form the blinding light, the sudden movement caused the buggy to veer sharply to the left, just as a storm of plasma bolts highlighted the ground where the buggy had just been. The flash heat of the plasma vaporized plants and left holes of melted dirt that would form pickets of natural glass when they finally cooled.

Beast Boy was awake and alert the moment the searchlight had hit the buggy.

"It's a gunship!" He announced fruitlessly; Raven was already aware of that fact.

…………………………………………………………………………………

Author's Note: Thanks for the 100 reviews on TT: Half Life. Now lets aim for another 100 on Trigon Apotheosis.


	8. Highway 17 part 4

Teen Titans: Trigon Apotheosis

Chapter 8 – Highway 17 (part 4 – Black Ships)

Raven veered the buggy to the abrupt right as a heavy plasma rain was enforced down upon them from the overhead, near invisible, hunter. The car jumped and hurdled over the untamed dirt path before impacting, tearing through a twisted highway rail up and onto the paved track of Highway 17. The result of which she forced the gas pedal until it could go no farther in a manner that suggested she could make the car go even faster through added willpower.

When a tire hit an unusually large rock, that had somehow found it's way into the middle of the road, there was a moment of truth as the front teetered dubiously in the air, a near full ninety degrees angle to the ground, threatening to flip them over backwards even as they continued to race down the highway at neck breaking, vision blurring, speeds

But luck, and gravity, were on their side and the front tipped forward again. It came down with a mighty crashing protest of joints and gears, but the asphalt of the highway allowed for easy gripping on the tires making available higher speeds it couldn't achieve whilst driving along an uncultivated earthen course.

There was a scratching noise, right next to her ear; she turned her head briefly to catch a glimpse as to its source. A plasma bolt had melted through a pole in the buggy's frame, mere inches from her head, and now the one half was repeatedly humming a solo act against other half, smoke trailing a light wisp from the super heated metal tips.

The enemy continued it unhindered pursuit with its singular eye, the searchlight never wavering in it's pursuit of the buggy. The overpowering brightness shone on their back, then at their side, front, then side again, as the gunship hovered circles around them. Putting the buggy's own paltry equivalents to disgrace; making driving the midnight road a heinous chore when the light was directed full force into their night sensitive eyes, like staring straight into the sun.

The buggy ran sporadically, crisscrossing across the length of the road, jumping around like a chicken with its head cut off. Raven's knuckles were a ghostly white from her death grip on the steering wheel, her jaw aching from clenching her teeth so hard.

Above the sound of the engine and her own desperate gulps of air she could hear the enemy sweeping down for the kill. The gunship was close, the unnatural sound, like the pounding of a helicopter's blades and slowly increasing in pitch, taunted her like a cat taunts an injured mouse; it was preparing to fire again.

Raven stomped the brake pedal and pulled up the handbrake in the same swift motion. The buggy dragged until it stopped but Raven and Beast Boy kept going forward. The laws of physics assured that both of them were thrown violently against their seatbelts and left them both breathless from the sudden pressure exerted against their bodies.

The spotlight kept advancing forward as the rain of plasma tore the road ahead of them to chunky bits. The gunship veered sharply to the side making a clean 180-degree turn even as it maintained it's forward inertia. With their eyes freed from the grip of the searchlight, if for a brief moment, Raven and Beast Boy were able to catch a glimpse of their pursuer as it passed in front of the gentle illumination of the full moon.

Her eyes widened in terror as she looked upon the face of her enemy. Couldn't breath, she felt something squeeze her heart until it nearly burst; eyes widening in terror as she looked upon the face of her enemy.

"Raven you ok?" Alarmed to her sudden adverse reaction.

…………………………………………………………………………………

Black ships, like giant spiders descended upon the planet; massive warships bombarded and burnt the cities into dust, while a seemingly infinite number of smaller ships filled the sky. So many they formed a moving veil blocking out the sun and casting the planet into a darkness it would never again emerge from.

The skin constantly shifting and moving as if viewed under a kaleidoscope, screams of pain as missiles and gunfire impacted; these were not any normal ships they were indeed living entities, biological creations as alive as the aliens that created them, combined with a form of cybernetic enhancement and weapon implants they were unstoppable.

It was an enemy Raven never truly knew or understood but one that had destroyed her home world, Azarath, when she was very young. Now they were invading the Earth, following her in her father's wake; once again searching for Raven and destroying everything around her as they moved from planet to planet. But this time there was no place left to run too, no place to hide.

…………………………………………………………………………………

"It's all my fault." Raven agonized in a disconnected voice that didn't mirror the indescribable guilt and terror that covered her whole face in a sheen of sweat.

"Raven!" BB cried as the gunship once again disappeared into darkness, but unmistakably heading in their direction.

"It's all because of me."

The enemy's eye found them again, focusing its self on their location and followed by the familiar sound of its weapon charging for another round of firepower, this one to finish them off.

BB released himself from his seatbelt and like a gymnast on the uneven bars, lifted himself on top of the buggy.

"Hang on!" BB warned, but Raven wasn't listening, she was drowning in guilt from a memory that refused to be suppressed.

"This isn't real, it's just a vision." She said to herself.

But BB took action; Raven was not longer capable of protecting herself so it was his duty now.

"I won't let you die here." He said as his body imploded upon itself, shrinking into an indistinguishable blob before it expanded into a new shape. Growing a pair of wings and a set of clawed feet, BB had now taken upon the body of a prehistoric pterodactyl.

His clawed feet found and wrapped around the frame of the buggy and with a mighty sway of his wings lifted it into the air.

There was a loud burst of air as one of the front tires was punctured and exploded in a sudden release of air under pressure. The escaping of air threw them to the side and aided them in further avoidance of enemy fire; furthermore it jarred Raven from her self-sustaining nightmare and back into reality.

Beast Boy was giving it his all. Flapping his wings in quick yet strong beats as he carried the buggy over the plains. The car could be considered light since it consisted of only the bare essentials, but it still weighed a hefty amount, and bulky too, making it very hard for him to maneuver about.

But like before, not making any difference if they were in the air or on the ground, the gunship circled like a shark frequently spraying them with another round of plasma.

"He's gotta be low on ammo by now." BB thought to himself and he narrowly dodged another high-speed round.

BB flew for miles, in an abnormal pattern, so dedicated to avoiding injury; he didn't realize that he'd lost sight of the highway. But that didn't concern him; he had another destination in mind one he'd spotted while reading the map, this was his own improvised shortcut.

"On the right!" Raven shouted a warning. Beast Boy headed the call and made a narrow dive to the left.

…………………………………………………………………………………

Emerging over the horizon, like a festering wound in the Earths side, was a ruin commercial complex, complete with its own multi-story parking lot. One side of the building was 'peeled' off, creating a large rubble hill at the bottom, and exposing the interior to the night air.

If BB's instincts were correct then this was the site of one of the weapon caches Alexis had been talking about. Now if only…

"Right again!" Raven notified BB. Once more, for an uncountable time, BB swerved to the side, but the long distance and heavy burden he carried had become too much for him to bear much further. He was physically drained and consequently couldn't keep up with the constant barrage of deadly fire. Two bolts struck the engine, reducing it to a single fused block of metal and wire, and a third caught Beast Boy on the wing burning a hole through the thin layer of skin that composed a pterodactyl's wing.

With the lost of his aerodynamic flight, the two Titans plunged earthward. BB never able to lift the car very far above the ground; the drop was short, a mere 50 feet, but that was enough. The buggy impacted the ground with prodigious resonance of twisting and shattered metal; it bounced, flipping over onto its back. When Raven, still restrained by her seat belt, when she came to her senses found herself hanging upside down suspended few feet above the ground.

Almost within arms reach was Beast Boy, face down on the moist earth, unconscious, his arm smoking from where the super-heated round had smashed into him. Below the smoke, she could clearly see evidence of severe third and second degree burns; charred blackened skin broken only by a dozen angry red blisters and swollen skin all around the site. But his chest still slowly rose up and down with life.

Raven abandoned the now useless buggy, lifting Beast Boy onto her back; she piggyback carried him into the comparatively safer inside of the multi-story parking structure. She would've preferred the office building, but it looked ready to collapse under any further barrage of the gunship's weaponry.

She sprinted as fast as she was able, luckily BB had dropped them close to cover so the distance was not unreasonable. She fortuitously managed to place the roof as a barrier between her and the enemy just as the gunship was powering up for another burst.

Under the concrete ceiling, there was a damp coldness to the air and her every footstep returned in a hallow echo. Several cars lay scattered all around the area, none in anything close to a useable form. They had all been stripped of their engines, their tires, and all internal electronics; all that was left was the smooth outer shell, now covered by layers of dust.

In the center of the mess was an elevator, with a cement-encased stairway next to it.

There was a gust of wind from outside; the gunship was trying to hover low enough to get a clear shot of them. Raven didn't stop in her sprint, but headed in a new direction for the stairwell. Despite the door's bad need of oil, it opened without trouble.

Inside was the staircase spiraling upwards to the higher levels. At least in here they were at comparatively somewhat shielded from enemy fire by a foot or so of reinforced wall, but that didn't stop the fact that they were stuck here until the gunship decided to leave, no telling how long that would take, or they destroyed it. BB said that this was one of the stockpiles on the map, but there was no telling where the weapons were put, that fact was scribbled on the map and she had forgotten it in the buggy.

But it was too late to get it now.

Suddenly there came from above them the echo of wood tap tapping against cement along with two pairs of footsteps marching down the stairs.

"Hello?" Raven called out, hoping that it was someone friendly. That hope was dashed when a familiar british accent returned her greeting.

"Why 'ello there my duckies."

"It's you" Raven hissed, thinking that things couldn't get worse.

"Of course you remember, ol' Mad Mod luv'," Mad Mod spoke as he rounded the corner of the stairway into full view. It was not the elder Mad Mod, but younger, bright red-headed one. "Looks like you've seen betta' days." He said while looking at BB's grave wound.

"Well look who it is, the snot-faced, goodie goodies." Smile a year older, but still as small as ever, Gizmo from behind Mad Mod.

"So what do you want?" Raven's hand slowly inched toward the gun on her belt.

"No need for alarm my ducky, today is you'r lucky day." Mad Mod twirled his cane like a conductor's baton. "Someone up there likes you and decided you'd need a littl' help."

"I don't see why I should have to help you booger brain losers anyway." Gizmo added trying to, unsuccessfully, sound irritated.

"Help us?" Raven was confused at the sudden turn of events.

"Let me spell it out for ya, my ducky," Mad Mod approached Raven to within a few steps. "Some of us," by 'us' Mad Mod was referring to all the villains the Teen Titans had ever fought against, "didn't turn traitor against the whole of mankind. Great Britain is where my loyalty lies. Long live the Queen."

"Besides," Gizmo gave a thumbs up, "I hate spiders anyway."

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Author's Note: I've created my own Deviant Art website to post some of my fanfic related artwork. Come check it out here: http/oceansama. 


	9. Highway 17 part 5

Teen Titans: Trigon Apotheosis

Chapter 9 – Highway 17 (part 5 – Family)

She had no reason to trust them, so why did she follow? Maybe it was because she had no other choice in the matter or perhaps because they were so sincere about it. Either way, Raven followed Mad Mod and Gizmo as they climbed the stair well to the top of the parking building. She was followed by foul tempered Beast Boy who, had regained consciousness, brought up the rear in this strange procession. Indeed Mad Mod seemed to enjoy playing the part of a teacher leading his students to class, even now in this confined space.

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Upon awakening Beast Boy, still disoriented from the fall, had been alarmed to look upon Mad Mod who stood mere inches from Raven. Without thinking he leaped to the attack and had nearly struck the first blow in a close-quarter battle. But all it had taken was the lightest of taps from Mad Mod's cane to put a stop to all hostilities. Despite Mad Mod's protests that he hadn't actually touched the wound, the result sent BB into a fit of blinding pain.

Tears streamed from his eyes as he instinctively grabbed the vulnerable spot. Flakes of skin, like burnt paper, cracked and peeled off under his grip. The pressure doubled the pain and his hand flew off the wound as if the injury itself had burnt him; puss from several newly ruptured blisters poured freely from his scorched and mutilated skin, seeping into the tender area causing a remission of the pain, but only by the smallest degree.

The Beast Boy from before, the one that Raven knew the best, would've curled up like a small child, wailing like a banshee from a grief only half as deep. Not once did this new Beast Boy break under the distress, enduring the torture he saw it through to its agonizing conclusion; by himself.

But he wasn't the only one who was suffering in that terrible moment. Raven was tormented in her heart as she watch her friend suffer such inequitable misery. Her eyes wanted to cry, but she would not let them; she'd promised herself. She reached out wanting to try and comfort him, to help him; he pushed her away callously. Beast Boy never touched her, but it felt like a slap in the face.

"I'm fine." He seethed, a trail of spit escaped from the corner of his mouth.

Mad Mod and Gizmo simply watched, their expressions unreadable, they'd seen this sort of thing many times before.

"We're gonna have to get that looked at." Mad Mod said.

Beast Boy's trial was over within moments of its onset. But all who witnessed it would never forget.

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Outside the alien gunship could be heard circling about the complex, it hadn't given up on the hunt. It was as if it could sense they were there, could smell their fear and pain.

There was another explosion as the gunship's cannon came alive once again and struck something volatile on the floor above them.

When the four of them reached the top of the stairs Mad Mod called for a halt. The sounds of the gunship could be heard clearly now, still it maintained it's beat.

At the top of the stairs was a janitors closet. The unpainted metal doors were locked with a combination pad. Mad Mod took the pad into his long slender fingers and began to turn the dial.

"0, 9, 21, 33," he spoke out loud as he turned the dial. With a click the pad opened and was removed from the door handles. Inside the closet was not a janitor's mop and bucket, but two RPG launcher tubes and a camouflage painted crate with a spray painted image of a missile on the top.

"Oi" Mad Mod called for their attention as he picked up one of the launchers. "Pay attention you lot, its about time I give you a real lesson." The launcher in his hands was around 3 feet in length; hallow cylinder tube, smoothbore on one end and flaring funnel on the other. Positioned just under the smoothbore side were two handles for holding the launcher steady, complete with firing trigger and laser optics.

"Simply load the rocket in this end," Mad Mod pointed to the funnel, "aim and fire. Using the laser guide you can 'steer' your rocket past the gunship's defenses. This will only anger it at first, but if you can survive long enough to score several direct hits you'll be rewarded with a prize worthy of any mantelpiece. So…who will volunteer to carry it into battle?" He looked over the three potentials, but Mad Mod already had his volunteer in mind.

"Raven," he held the RPG launcher out to her, "I couldn't have asked for a finer volunteer." He chucked the launcher at her and she caught it in both hands; it was surprisingly light in her grip. Raven turned the weapon over in her hands, inspecting it closely

"Why?" Raven suddenly asked.

Both Mad Mod and Gizmo turned to look at her, their faces saying that they hadn't caught what she'd said.

"Why are you helping us?" Raven asked again.

"Because Mr. Rin-tin-rustman asked us to." Gizmo answered.

"Fixit?"

"We're not the only ones lov'." Mad Mod stepped in, "There're many lads and lasses who were sent out to find you after metal man had spread the word."

"You haven't answered my question." Raven replied angrily, "The HIVE sided with the aliens," she regarded Gizmo with contempt, "and you said your loyalty is with Britain so why are you here," she then glared at Mad Mod, "and not over there. Why are you helping us?"

Mad Mod sneered at her, seeming like a teacher ready to discipline one of his student for talking back, while Gizmo refused to even look her in the eyes. Even Beast Boy looked back and forth between the two of them. He was just as suspicious as Raven was about their true motives.

There followed a stunned silence which might've lasted forever had the presence of the gunship been elsewhere.

"I know you can't trust us, my ducky, I don't trust you lot one lick. But," he pointed a finger for emphasis, "if you can take down that bugger out there, I'll tell you anything you want to know, Mad Mod promises you that my duckies."

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Plasma bolts crisscrossed overhead as Raven and Beast Boy ducked behind a wrecked sports car. Raven carried the RPG launcher slung across her shoulder, a rocket already loaded, while Beast Boy clutched four more rockets in his arms.

They had argued venomously that Beast Boy shouldn't be carrying anything, let along heading off into battle, with that arm of his; Beast Boy would hear anything of it.

"Dude, I'm ok." He would keep saying, but everyone there knew he wasn't ok. Even now Raven could smell the wound beginning to fester. If something wasn't done soon, Beast Boy ran a real high risk of losing that arm permanently. The only reason he wasn't in pain now was the wound had gone numb.

Still the gunship continued its infinite orbit around them, Raven and Beast Boy had to loop around the car to keep it on the receiving end of the plasma bath and not themselves.. The superheated compound was quickly eating away at the car; the whole vehicle becoming hot from exposure, they wouldn't be able to stay here much longer.

Raven tightened her grip on the launcher, ready and eager to end this chase. Yet again the gunship ejected its poison at them, a dozen rounds found the car, sinking in further melting it away into a boiling puddle of molten metal, while many more rounds whistled as they passed overhead. It was in this brief moment between shots that Raven took her chance.

Standing up Raven was exposed, if it fired now there was no way she could survive the onslaught, her flesh would be striped clean and her bones liquefied. Still she brought the launcher to bear on the gunship; no fear, the bright red laser marking an invisible trail for her rage to follow.

She pulled the trigger!

She stepped back as the recoil cause the launcher to jerk upwards; as the rocket jumped from the tube with a hiss of escaping gas and smoke from the rear funnel. The solid projectile hovered, suspended in mid air for a fraction of a second. A trail of ignited fuel and smoke erupted from the rocket's posterior as the onboard minicomputer picked up on the laser guidance; it flew straight and true through the air like an arrow aimed at the enemy's heart.

The gunship immediately recognized the threat, it maneuvered to the side, making a desperate ascension into the air and exposing its underbelly.

"Perfect," Raven following its every movement with the laser and the rocket tracked faithfully. But as the rocket made the final stretch for the enemy, a burst of lasers erupted from guns hidden beneath the skin of the gunship. Seven of them shot in perfect alternating synchronicity. All it took was one beam, burning across the missile's stabilizer fin, which caused it to turn sharply to the left. Broken from its laser guidance the rocket spiraled out of control before meeting its end when, upon reaching its operational limit, finally detonated harmlessly off target.

Raven kneeled behind the partially melted car before the gunship could even its sights back on her.

"Beast Boy." Raven didn't have to say anymore.

"Gotcha," Her ammo carrier inserted one of his rockets into the back end of the launcher. They braced themselves for the inevitable return fire, when they heard the now familiar thump of a rocket being fired from a tube; she risked a glance behind her.

Thanks to their distraction, Mad Mod and Gizmo had been given adequate time to position themselves on the opposing end of the roof.

"Let teacher show you, how it's done." Mad Mod boasted as his rocket ignited its liquid propellant. The rocket shot upwards at a sharply acute angle, it would miss the enemy by a mile. But then Mad Mod angled the launcher's laser downward and the missile made an obtuse plummet downward for the target.

Looping the launcher around, he caused the rocket to pinwheel around the enemy several times. The gunships skin was alight with defensive return as it tried to swat this pesky fly out of the air. One laser found its mark, but it was too late, the rocket had already closed the distance.

The gunship let out a cry of a wounded beast as the explosion penetrated its side. Parts of it were blown free and black inky smoke began to filter out the backside; Beast Boy hoped they had hit something vital.

"That one was for my arm!" he shook his fist at the offensive party. When he did, his grip on the rockets loosened and one fell to the ground with an ear ringing clang.

"Be Careful!" Three voices shouted in unison. True the missile wasn't primed to detonate, yet, but the last thing they wanted, especially Raven, was to have one explode in their faces.

"What do you have to worry about, " Beast Boy shouted at the two former criminals, "your not even over here."

"No talkin' back to teacher." If Mad Mod had been within arms reach he would've smacked BB over the head with his cane.

"Don't blow yourself up, snot face." Gizmo retorted.

"Enough!" Raven shout as to be heard above all the noise. "Bickering is pointless when there is still a job to do." Raven didn't wait for a return answer before she jumped up with the launcher in her hands.

The enemy was still maneuvering for a clear shot when Raven fired off her second rocket of the day. Imitating the technique that Mad Mod had demonstrated she pinwheeled the rocket, flying circled around the enemy before she scored a damaging, and very satisfying, direct hit in the things 'face'.

A secondary explosion played over the gunships skin and it teetered uneasily in the air, rocking from side to side as if drunk, its primary weapon a broken mess.

For a moment it looked as if it would drop. Instead eight small portals opened, four on each side and, like a true spider, eight spindly mechanical legs extended from these openings. Then it dropped, landing on the roof with a mighty crash, its eight legs supporting its weight.

No hesitation, it charged at Raven. Beast Boy had been expecting the last shot to have finished it off; he'd forgotten to reload the launcher.

As Raven's weapon clicked its hollow symphony it was assaulted from her hands by the creature's forward leg, sending it over the roof's edge and falling to the streets below. The blow had knocked Raven to the ground, Beast Boy, transformed as a gorilla, took position in front of her, missile in hand, trying to hit the creature with it, to dig the rocket into its skin and detonate it from the inside; defiantly protecting Raven with all his might. But he was discarded to the side by the spider, as if he was the bug that needed to be squished. He cried out as his body struck the concrete floor, falling back a dozen yards.

Raven could only watch as the creature raised its foreleg for the final fatal strike. To impale her head like a piece of meat on a skewer, at least it would be quick and painless.

"No…, it wasn't supposed end this way." She said aloud amidst a feeling of utter misery and defeat. She wished in her heart that she'd been able to find the others before she died; to look upon their faces one last time and to apologize for all the wrong she'd inflicted against them, the lies, the secrets, and the deceit. But more than that, if only she could make amends for all of the suffering she'd had unleashed upon the Earth. The invasion had been her fault. Maybe with her death, Trigon would no longer have a reason for the invasion and would leave the Earth. If that were true then she could die in peace; give up her life freely to end the suffering.

She closed her eyes and waited for the end to come.

But death never came.

Everything around her had grown strangely silent. Nothing seemed to be moving, not even the night air. She gingerly opened one eye, followed by the other. What she saw was beyond words.

Beast Boy still lay where he had fallen, Mad Mod and Gizmo hadn't fired a second round and they too were astounded with disbelief. The spider gunship had stopped in mid-blow and just stood there, frozen in place. It wasn't completely immobile, it shook all over as if it were afraid, afraid of killing her. But why? She was helpless before its deadly visage.

"Will you kill me?" Raven asked it straightforward. In response the creature raised his spear again to give its answer, but hesitated not able to strike halfway this time. Then Raven understood its plight. By nature it was programmed to kill, but something or someone was stopping it from carrying out its task.

Was it because she was Trigon's daughter that it couldn't kill her? It did make the most sense. Still Raven couldn't shake the feeling that something else was the cause behind it.

"Get outta the way ya jerk face bimbo." Gizmo shouted at her s Mad Mod stood ready to pump another missile into the creature's gut.

"Wait!" she shouted back. Standing to face her opponent. Deep within her, she could feel the awaking of her powers, burning deep and intoxicating to her core. Yet there still was an invisible wall cutting her from touching upon them, blocking access. As aggravating as that was, she was more concerned about the strange reaction she was getting

"Stand down!" she commanded in her hardest voice. On cue the creature collapsed as if the life had been sucked from it. Several of the limbs twitched involuntarily, but the threat was extinguished, for now. Mad Mod lowered his weapon, his jaw wide with disbelief at what he'd just seen.

"Hey Raven," Beast Boy said in ill humor, "Why didn't you try that sooner?"

Raven ignored BB's lecture, instead opted to approach the creature and inspect it more closely. The thing truly was a hybrid of living tissue and technology. Dark liquid bled from the wounds on its face and sides and even as she watched she could see the injuries slowly self-healing.

She was compelled to reach out and touch upon its surface with her bare hand. Upon contact she felt the creature and her becoming one within her mind. She could feel the pain of its injury and the power coursing through its veins. It was alien to her, but there was a spark of familiarity buried deep within. Inside her the power flared up suddenly with startling intensity as if it had a mind of its own. The wall still held in place continuing to deny her control. Yet the wall was not perfect, it had cracks in its defense. Raven willed the power from one of these cracks, a stream of power smaller than a trickle. But it was enough to complete the link between them.

Then she knew the truth.

This creature, this abomination had been produced, no, born with Trigon's power. Meaning her own power had given birth to these creatures. Raven felt a wave of sickening nausea build in her stomach. It was too much too quick, information was being forced into her head against her will in a nonstop torrent of hate.

"No, no, no!" Raven screamed willing it to stop, but she couldn't deny. This creature born out of a nightmare couldn't possibly be. Yet it was, Raven and it shared an unbreakable link. Her father had used his own body and power to create these things. Genetically speaking they were related, children born of the same father, but different mothers.

Bile rose in her throat and she released the power, pushing it away, she broke the link between the two of them. Just before she severed herself off, she heard someone. A familiar voice spoke out to her.

"Nova Prospekt," it said using Cyborg's voice.

Reality rushed back in a haze of color and smells, before Raven promptly sank to her knees and vomited. The others all came rushing over concerned for her well-being. But she wasn't all right, after this it was doubtful she would ever be ok, ever.

"One big happy family" Raven said with a smile that bordered on madness.

The others hadn't heard the remark, but Raven hadn't seen what had drawn their attention away. An access panel had opened up on the creatures side and the others stared inside, but Raven already knew who was inside the machine, acting as its brain.

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**Author's Note**: I know this chapter is terribly late. Last week I had finals and as a result I hadn't written a thing when the last Sunday deadline hit me. Then there was the packing and hauling home of all my possession that I had taken with me to college. Finally the unpacking and search for summer employment. But her it is, I wrote this quick and so may have more errors than normal. I'll try and fix it up a bit later, but I have the next chapter to worry about now. I hope you enjoyed it.


	10. Highway 17 Final

The chapter is now finished. Please Re-read.

Teen Titans: Trigon Apotheosis

Chapter 10 – Highway 17 (Final – The Long Road Ahead)

Inside the gunship, through the now ajar panel, Cyborg was clearly visible amongst all the various elements that composed the gunship's technological innards. The skeleton was a high-grade polymer alloy and the whole thing was covered in an organic skin, doubling as a flexible and self-repairing armor layer.

Cyborg was mounted in a cone shaped hallow that normally would prove to be too minute to contain his usually large form. It was only through the removal of his limb that allowed him to be placed within. Even his torso had been stripped of most of its outer armor and any weapon or power systems were also missing.

Reams of data, written in a stiff alien alphabet, were displayed on five monitors that surrounded him and provided the only source of illumination. Large bundles of wires, coated in the same black organic skin as the ship itself, were attached to where Cyborgs arms and legs should've been. They pulsed with life, like arteries and veins, completing the connection and ensuring that Cyborg could not survive outside his commission.

"We 'ave to destroy him!" Mad Mod was shouting now, frustrated at the lack of cooperation he was getting from the others. "Once they 'ave you, there is no lettin' go."

"It's true," Gizmo agreed, "I've dissected these scum suckers before and there is no way of freeing you once you've been hooked up."

"Your lying!" Beast Boy shouted accusingly. "Cyborg is our friend, we can't just leave him like this."

"One missile, that's all it will take to put an end to Rin-Tin-Tin's suffering." Gizmo offered up one of the rockets he was holding as if presenting a sacrifice onto an alter.

While the three uneasy allies argued amongst them selves concerning Cyborg's future, Raven hadn't budged from where she'd fallen in resignation concerning the awful discovery she'd released from inside the gunship. Now she sat, legs crosses, arms at her sides, meditating over Cyborg's memories.

She could perceive the world through his senses, sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing. And even his inner thoughts played like a narrator speaking the lines of a hard bound story

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The room was a disheveled mess. The night sky showed clearly through holes in the ceiling where the construction crews had yet to finish up. Tools, painting supplies, and stacks of ceramic tiles littered the room, discarded haphazardly across the cement flooring. Cyborg was unsure as to what the room's final form would've been but he doubted he'd ever find out at this point. Not that it was overly important, just a part of his natural human curiosity.

"Just another relic of life before the war," he thought bitterly. How long had it been since he'd gotten involved? A month, maybe two? Already it was becoming hard to recall what normal life was. He thought being a Teen Titan had been a full time job, but it was a sore comparison to these modern times. No longer did they have the luxury of playing games or dinning on tasty slices of pizza while waiting for the next criminal outbreak. Now they spent every waking moment in constant turmoil, offensive or defensive, but mostly defensive and as much as he wanted to believe they were making progress in this war: one sabotaged power plant, a machine factory, and several prison raids, a victory, did not make. But it was a start, already rumors were beginning to circulate concerning their minor successes.

"Yo are we clear?" Cyborg said without turning his head, instead concentrated deeply on the task before him. Several electrical sparks flew madly from the circuit panel he was currently slicing into. It was a pretty heavy-duty security panel on such an insignificant room, but considering where they were it wasn't a complete surprise.

Across the room standing next to a closed doorway, and partially obscured by shadow, was Knives; goggles on his head and a backpack of supplies on his back. At Cyborg's question Knives reached out with his free hand, the other holding a throwing knife, and cracked open the door just enough to allow him to peer down the unlit and unfinished corridor that existed on the other side. Only with the night-vision goggles could he see in the natural darkness.

He saw no one.

"We're clear," he said plainly, but didn't lower his guard. His weapon remaining at the ready, prepared to be used at any moment.

As if on cue, the lock in Cyborg's mechanical hands gave a final spark of resignation before the electronic lock was disengaged and the door was opened. Just inside was a sign on the wall. Its letters were faded with age, but the still legible message read: 'Welcome to Nova Prospekt'. Yet somehow Cyborg didn't find the greeting to be at all comforting.

Cyborg, with his arm cannon, brought up the rear; guarding Knives as the blue haired youth entered Nova Prospekt. Despite the fact that they had only known each other for less than a handful of short months, they moved with expert coordination and a certainly that only long term acquaintances were privy too.

The two of them quickly made their way deep inside the complex. Moving swiftly from room to room they check each one for any signs of life, human or otherwise. Nova Prospekt was a prison, one of the largest maximum security penitentiaries in the whole world. But now it served a far more vile purpose ever since the spiders had taken up residence inside and began subjecting the inmates, and others, through biological and chemical experiments of an increasingly horrific nature. Both Teen had witnessed firsthand the true extent of the spider's disregard for human life.

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This would be the forth time Cyborg and Knives had raided Nova Prospekt. The primary purpose was to find and free any human they happened to run across. To date they'd only manage to free fifty-four people, all children between the ages of 8 and 14; half of which committed suicide within a week of their returned freedom. Three more were on permanent life-support until their missing organs could be replaced. Several more were missing limbs and still others were lobotomized vegetables, who might as well have been dead. Only seven freed prisoners were still healthy and sane enough to contribute anything to the human war effort, even so they still suffered from various medical problems from severe asthma to permanent blindness.

None of the people saved had been anything more than an average person before the war, had any of them had been a Meta-human, which was the popular term, like the Teen Titans they would have been taken to a special factory to be 'processes' and used as the living computer core in the spider's fleet of ships. From what Cyborg had heard, any human could be used as the core of those ships, but meta-humans were far more desirable.

But to make a long story short, on this particular day this raid had take a far more vital importance. Those freed usually had one or a couple pieces of intel for their rescuers; insider information on the inner working of the prison as well as names and faces of people who came and went, but yet none of them could ever recall ever seeing a spider during their stay on the inside.

But one prisoner in particular, who had been very eager to reveal all he'd discovered, recalled in every detail his unfortunate encounter with the mastermind behind all the human experimentation that was going on.

Dr. Chang was a criminal mastermind who specialized in the development of advanced technologies and weaponry, a smuggler of narcotics and spice, and had crossed the path of the Teen Titans on more than one occasion. Turns out Chang was working for the HIVE and the aliens in their genetic experiments. If that wasn't serious enough, the prisoner also told of a secret weapons development that involved a certain silver disk that the Titans hand run into on two occasions; in their dealings with Money and Flare.

Shortly after telling all he knew the prisoner expired due to excessive trauma he'd sustained to his spinal column. His final words were, "save Robin," then he died.

…………………………………………………………………………………

The implication was just as Cyborg feared. The Spiders had been so exultant over the capture of Robin that they'd inadvertently allowed the knowledge to get out. Robin was being delivered to Nova Prospekt by train later that evening for 'processing'

A rescue plan was hastily formulated and despite its simplicity (get in, get out) it carried a very restrictive time limit. The only window of opportunity was when the train, carrying Robin, stopped at the station. They had to rescue Robin before he was taken inside the facility. Once that happened they'd never be able to find him. Nova Prospekt was a vast underground labyrinth of tunnels and cells, reinforced with an advanced security system and numerous guards. Even the aliens had seen fit to add in their own special rooms to the mix.

…………………………………………………………………………………

But rescue wasn't a possibility, it was a certainty, the aliens knew this and would take the appropriate measures to safeguard their 'prize'

Cyborg and Knives, in a vacant cell, peered out the barred window. Just outside was a large paved field, probably used for inmate recreational activities, and was surrounded by a fourteen foot high, continuous length of mesh, lined with razor wire, and over-lorded by guard towers. Just beyond that was the train depot, lit up like a football stadium. Even from this considerable distance the two infiltrators could count two dozen guards were visible, possibly even more out of view, crawling all over the area with weapons in hand and eyes aware.

The train wasn't in the bay, it wasn't due for another ten minutes. Cyborg and Knives took advantage of this break to plan out a more structured attack.

…………………………………………………………………………………

"Well…" Knives said.

"A deep subject" Cyborg said in retaliation.

Knives just frowned and gave Cyborg a sidelong glance. "What do you think of the situation?"

"They definitely know we're coming, might even know we're already here. Probably have motion sensors and lookouts all along the perimeter."

Knives nodded in agreement, "Shouldn't be too though as long as we don't rush in carelessly.

"No time for that, we…

"Shit! Manhacks!" Knives suddenly swore.

"Where?"

"There, by the power transformer."

Knives pointed and Cyborg followed. Manhacks, aka meat grinders, were the ultimate in anti-personnel tactics and the invaders employed them in droves; they were cheap and easy to make. With four stabilizer fins for lightning quick maneuvers and a trio of cutting blades, they were capable of closing in on their victims with unprecedented speeds to quickly eviscerate the opposition. Even if one was lucky enough to survive a close encounter with a manhack, they would be left with terrible life lasting scars; maybe even deprived of a limb or two.

Even though Knives couldn't see the individual manhacks from this distance, the bending of light off of spinning razor blades gave them away.

"They seem to be guarding the power transformer solely." Knives observed.

"Are you sure?"

"You're the one with the bionic eye. Take a closer look, can't you see it?"

Cybrog's bionic left eye was capable of zooming up to a hundred times that of normal human vision, "I see," he said, "must be afraid of the dark"

"I'm thinkin' that too. Can you see anything else?"

"Give me a sec.." Cyborg said and quickly scrutinized the area. "Looks like a normal high-voltage power line from here," he zoomed in a little closer. "I can't see anything from this angle except hacks and wires."

"Must be worth guarding to risk a hack malfunctioning and accidentally severing some wires."

"Oh, great idea." Cyborg said with a mischievous smile.

"Ay?"

Without abating Knives' confusion Cyborg focused his spying eye onto on of the manhacks. The hacks were mostly automated, at least as much as a mindless flying meat slicer could be, but they still had an external line with which to receive instructions from an operator. If he could hack into one, it might just give them the opening they were looking for.

…………………………………………………………………………………

Raven watched as Knives pulled a small laptop from his backpack and handed it to Cyborg; who skillfully attempted to break the hacks command protocols through the laptop's wireless modem card. For a minute or two neither boy said anything to the other, she waited. Then Knives opened his mouth, but then quickly reconsidered and didn't speak.

Then something happened. The image shook, suddenly losing a degree of focus; the edged became blurred and Knives began speaking again. Raven strained to hear his words; he seemed to be whispering something to Cyborg. She tried to read his lips, but the blurred state of the picture made it impossible. Then she realized she couldn't hear the sound of Cyborg's fingers pressing the keys, of Knives breathing, or even the wind as it passed. If Cyborg's brain hadn't been part robotic, she would've assumed he had simply forgotten about what the two of them had spoken about that night.

But what she was experiencing now, through Cyborg's eyes, was more akin to corruption, the removal of the audio and the blurring of visual data. Calling upon what little of her power remained; she used it, first to isolate the current situation, then to examine it more closely; she had a hunch.

She stripped the first layer off the image; color was dissolved and everything turned to shades of grey. The whole memory had been reduced to a silent film with a depressing lack of subtitles. A second layer was taken away; everything polarized into 2 shades, either absolute white or complete black. That's when she found it.

An…entity, that was the best she could describe it. There was a third presence in the room along with Cyborg and Knives, but it wasn't a living creature. In forensics when a discovery of a suspect's fingerprints leads to identification of the suspect, so was this third entity a similar parallel. However Raven had neither a list of suspects nor the means to identify who this 'fingerprint' belonged to.

And what exactly had she discovered? It was something hard to put into words, but just like a fingerprint is a film of bodily oil impressed into a unique pattern, so was this entity a mold of someone's mental presence. But she would be unable to identify who's it was until she could examine the suspects own unique mental wavelength.

This was clear evidence that Cyborg's memories were altered. Also Knives had once expressed a suspicion that his amnesia was the product of selected termination of memories specifically planned out by the perpetrator. Raven wondered, if she could dive into Knives' own memories would she find a similar impression?

Whoever it was that was playing with memories, they seemed always one step ahead of her. Whatever information this individual was trying to protect, they would've had to go through some sever lengths in order to alter them while Cyborg was part of the spider's system.

Unless they were working with the spiders or they altered them before Cyborg was captured.

Raven wanted to finish watching the entire progress of Cyborgs last memories of freedom when Beast Boy interrupted her meditation.

"Raven!" he whined, "Don't leave me hanging out to dry, tell these two that Cyborg…"

"Cyborg is coming with us." Raven declared with no room for argument. "Gizmo you said you've worked on these ships before, find a way to get him out of there."

Author's notes - Thanks for your patience on this chapter. Again I want to give out a call for a Beta-Reader/Helper. If your interested email me at If my email doesn't show then go to my author bio, it should be in there.


	11. Outpost Sigma part 1

Author's Note: If you didn't already know I added some extra material to the end of the previous chapter, so you may want to go back and re-read it.

Teen Titans: Trigon Apotheosis

Chapter 11 – Outpost Sigma (Part 1: Arrival)

_There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil  
To one who is striking at the root._

_Henry David Thoreau_

Raven and Mad Mod stood at odds. Raven had never liked him and she was as sure as hell the feeling was mutual. Ever since their first meeting, Mad Mod had tried to act the part of teacher and overbearing and forceful surrogate father to the Titans; forcing his own ideals upon them trying to 'teach' them his way of thinking and methodology. Even their forced alliance was no barrier to deter his dug-in resolve to one day convert her and the rest of the Titans into seeing his way of things.

The topic of today's class concerned Cyborg's immediate future. Cyborg was a friend and a Titan; that alone was reason enough, for Raven, to keep him alive and pave his way to freedom. But now there was even more to it; the memories. The brief glimpses she had seen said that there was far more going on then she had first suspected. She need time to meditate on all that had, and hadn't, been revealed to her as this new source of information could show some light on the tangled mess of lives she found herself in

Her immediate concern was Knives and Robin, for the most part it appeared as if they were still alive, however it looked as if they too had fallen at Nova Prospekt along with Cyborg and were, as well, confined in a similar fashion as weapons of war for the Spiders. This brought Raven back to why she hated Mad Mod, even more so now.

"You knew there was someone alive inside." Raven gestured toward the sedentary gunship.

…………………………………………………………………………………

Even immobile, as it was, the gunship still cast a overwhelming presence amongst the dawn light. Even in the early morning sunlight its skin was as clear and infinite as a panel of glass. It was impossible to stare at it, the smooth quality of the texture made ones eyes slid off of it. The only blemish was where its wounds had yet healed and the solitary panel open on the side.

Thanks to Gizmo's small size, he was able to fit himself inside the already cramped 'cockpit' and had begun his work. Occasionally, out of the open panel, a piece of hardware, a computer part, or a piece of organic wiring would be hurled out as casually as one discards the wrapper on a new deck of cards. His natural skills with machines, which earned him his namesake, coupled with his acquired knowledge of the technology used in the alien vessel, allowed him to modify it in whatever way he saw fit.

Yet, despite this, the technique for releasing the confined inhabitant from the shackles of the alien weapon was only allowable through death of the personality. Extraction of the body was possible, but the strain on the delicate human psyche always lead to the destruction of the victim's mind leading, inexorably, to the remainder of their natural years as a soulless doll.

For Cyborg it would be the same as if he was made completely cybernetic.

Pulling a controller, that appeared more fitting for a video game console than a high tech alien weapon, out of his pocket he began connecting it to the gunship's mainframe. To do so he pulled out several wires, in a seemingly random fashion, and directed their input into the device in his hands, grumbling about a certain 'stubborn female' as he worked.

…………………………………………………………………………………

"An' even had you known," Mad Mod crossed his arms; the cane lightly rapped against his leg, "you still would kill him in a foolish attempt to free him. Might as well let him go down fightin' in a blaze o' glory. A more than suitable end for a runt like 'em."

Raven felt the anger burning in the pit of her stomach. Her logical mind reasoned that Mad Mod had justification to be cynical about Cyborg's chances but it was just a whisper amongst a tsunami of emotion coupled with her own personal hatred of the man. She wanted to do to him what she did with Dr. Light. She wanted to pull him down from his pedestal and eviscerate his sanity. It was only due to her powerlessness that he was spared a painful death.

This he knew and took advantage of it to spout his gospel unhindered and unopposed, at least as far as Raven was concerned..

"You kids nowadays don't know anythin'. It's not that I really care for your metal friend there. But it'd be best to pop him between the eyes now and save ourselves the trouble, if you know what I mean my duckies."

Beast Boy on the other hand was not quite as powerless; however he still hesitated trying to forcibly shut Mad Mod up. He was a powerful foe, and this, Beast Boy understood very well. But he could just stand there and let Mad Mod talk smack about his friend, but he didn't know what to say.

A part of him also agreed, if there was no way to save Cyborg then, as one friend to another, wouldn't ending it now be far more of a kindness then forcing them to live on. Pull the plug now and let Cyborg die with dignity as apposed to a mindless existence floating from one moment to the next no longer able to achieve a purpose or a justification for his life.

"No way!" Beast Boy stomped in defiance, "We can't do that, we won't. Not until every we try every thing possible." Beast Boy was certain that had their roles been reversed, Cyborg would had fought tooth and nail, or at least nut and bolt, for him as well. He wouldn't give up on Cyborg until he saw it was impossible with his own eyes and certainly wasn't going to take Mad Mod at his word.

Mad Mod's expression didn't change, as disappointed as he was, he had been expecting this reaction. If he tried to force the issue it would inevitable lead to exchanged blows; just as it always had in the past. He clicked his teeth in annoyance, there really was nothing stopping him. In his cane was a hidden blade and with one clean cut it could settle the matter once and for all.

"We need him alive," Raven declared at the moment Mad Mod had grasped his cane, ready to reveal it's deadly surprise, "for the data in his mind."

That caught Mad Mod's attention; his hands relaxed yet still maintained their enamored grip.

"Oh, how do you mean?" he asked.

"Have you forgotten?" she reasoned hotly, her emotion showing for all to see, "his brain is half electronic, with all sorts of data and information that could prove useful. But we need him alive otherwise…" she snapped her fingers to prove a point.

"Gizmo?" Mad Mod called for the resident expert.

"What'dya want old man?" came the obstinate reply.

"What do you think?"

"Hmm," Gizmo hummed, more for emphasis than need, "The brain's hard-drive re-formatting upon death is a plausible argument for businesses and military wanting to keep their sensitive data and operating protocols secret, but I doubt these goody-goody snot-brains though that far ahead, especially when it was so easy to break into their tower back then." Gizmo chuckled at the memory.

"But will you risk losing all that that data? He's been directly connected to the enemy's network, you don't know what we could find." Raven had managed to calm herself down, she was still slightly red in the face from the excitement, but now she was more like her old self.

Mad Mod, grinned to himself, seriously considering this turn of events. True he had spent and unknown amount of time amongst the enemy, interacting, receiving orders, and observing; indeed there was no telling what choice bits of info he carried within the mechanisms of his brain. But on the other hand Raven just probably just using this as an excuse to keep him around long enough to find that impossible cure.

"What was that saying that Americans loved to use so much?" he thought, "Ah, Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

Right, that was it. Right now Gizmo had used his talents to cut Cyborg off from command, the gunship was now theirs to control, so there really was no risk from enemy attack. Might as well 'venture' a peek into his metal mind and see just what exactly could be in there; before they killed him.

"You are learning, there may be hope for you yet." Mad Mod said, acting as though Raven had just received a passing grade.

"Spare me the irony." She said disgusted with herself as well as Mad Mod.

"It was a compliment actually, lov'."

And what, exactly, had she learned? That she had an ulterior motive for preserving Cyborg and that was the only reason why he was still living now? She wasn't sure of the answer to that. Was she helping him because he was a friend or simply using him for the data in his mind? What if she hadn't touched his mind as she had, would she still be so eager to help him?

She looked at Cyborg, a dismembered man, stripped of everything mechanical but the basest of systems to keep his human half alive. Maybe death was preferable to what he was now. But maybe it was because she had touched his mind and saw his memories, altered as they were, that convinced her that he wasn't beyond rescue.

He wasn't a friend just because they got along well and worked together. He was a friend because she had a use for him. Raven had never been one for machines, but for Cyborg it was his bread and butter. Over time most of the Titans Tower had been heavily modified and a lot of the vehicles and gadgets the team had used had been generously supplied by Cyborg himself and his technical know how. His strength made up for her weakness. She fed off of it, learning bit by bit from the master himself and developed her own tricks over time. Come the day he ever outlive his usefulness, he would be cast aside like some broken toy.

That was Mad Mod's lesson.

Raven didn't agree with it, but could understand it; it's usefulness.

And that's what scared her.

…………………………………………………………………………………

Raven was silent for most of the trip. After Gizmo had finished with his modification to the Gunship's controls everyone, excluding Cyborg who was still hardwired inside, rode atop the gunship as it walked the rest of the way to their destination.

As the ship lumbered along on its 8 mechanical legs, Raven couldn't help but notice that the gunship walked a lot less gracefully then when Cyborg had been in control. It also didn't move as fast as the buggy had been, but it was preferable to walking on their own two legs

"Dude, can't they track us? With a homing beacon or something?" Beast Boy asked concerned.

"Already took care of it. You just now thought of it, rumple snot-skin?"

Beast Boy ignored the obvious insult and focused more on the control Gizmo was using.

"That's cool, can I drive it?" he ask with a tone and excitement more significant of his pre-war self.

"Get away!" Gizmo lurched the controller back out of BB's immediate grasp.

"That's not fair, you've gotten to use it all this time, give me a turn"

"Your not old enough to drive."

"Neither are you!" BB pointed an accusing finger.

"But I built it and I have experience." Gizmo briefly thought back to the time he'd stolen Cyborg's car.

"How hard can it be? I've played plenty of stunt racer games."

"Your not getting it!"

Give me the controller, it is my turn!"

"NO! let go!" Gizmo shrieked.

With a mighty pounce BB was on Gizmo; the two boys were locked in deadly combat. Beast Boy might've been bigger and with more physical fighting prowess, but Gizmo put up a mighty struggle, and with only one free hand.

"Ey, 'ey Cut it out the lot of you." Mad Mod stepped in, like the responsible school teacher he thought he was. He only succeeded in adding his own shouting voice to the two previously assembled.

Raven just watched the scene unfolding before her. It reminder her of the innumerable fights that Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Robin used to get into all the time. It usually began with Cyborg and BB fighting over some stupid video game and Robin usually stepped in to bring peace.

How had it come down to BB, Gizmo, and Mad Mod? It was a scene so familiar, but it an added twist. Raven put her hand to her mouth to hide a snicker, somehow finding both humor and relief in the pointless argument.

BB and Gizmo were playing tug of war. Neither had dominance for long as the prize slipped from side to side. Nothing was spoken anymore, they just bared their teeth, grunted and groaned. They were working so hard they began to shine with a layer of sweat.

"It's Mine!"

"Forget it!"

"Give it up you runts!"

Then the two pulled with all their strength at the same moment. The controller flew like a greased pig from their hands and into the air. Someone shouted an obscenity but it fell on deaf ear as all eyes traced the flight path of the item as it flew up, end over end, seemingly suspended in midair. .

Because Raven's hands were holding it and she was turning it around her fingers.

"Looks like it's now my turn." She stood triumphant.

Gizmo and BB exchanged a glance that spoke deep of their personal hate for the other, but didn't say anything more but sat back in their seating positions to sulk.

"Better let me handle it from here." Mad Mod didn't suggest, he instructed.

"I don't think so old grandpa." Raven injected as much disrespect as she could into the title.

"Old grandpa!" Mad Mod shouted, clearly taken aback by her sudden backlash.

Beast Boy couldn't sulk after a bombshell like that. He almost wanted to cheer for Raven, but he was a little concerned. It seemed like she was a completely different person now. Not the untouchable, emotionless, goth from before, but now she acted more like a normal teenager; so open and free with her emotions….so disrespectful of her elders. He felt he could grow to like this new Raven. The way she acted now, kind of reminded him of Terra even though there were still a mountain of differences separating the twp girls.

Raven walked past a speechless and fuming Mad Mod and took her place at the head of the gunship, controller in hand. A gust of wind picked up and blew her hair gently across her face. With her free hand she brushed it back; thinking that she too had felt a definite change within herself. She felt younger, more at peace, like she was back at the orphanage, things had seemed so simple back then, just her and Knives and the future. She wasn't changing, just returning to how it was before.

But it was all a transitory state. Once she had her powers back everything would be as it was before. She dreaded that day, but knew it was necessary if she was to face her father and break this nightmare; if not for her sake then for everyone close to her.

"Raven, are you ok?" Beast Boy asked bringing himself close to Raven's side. She didn't answer just gave a comforting smile, before taking the controller firmly in both hands. She planned on enjoying this feeling while it lasted.

She didn't have much time to play though, just over the horizon their destination came into view.


	12. Outpost Sigma part 2

Teen Titans: Trigon Apotheosis

Chapter 12 – Outpost Sigma (part 2: Alias)

The gunship walked in unique fashion along the ruined freeway toward its destination. Control via Gizmo's hookup was surprisingly easy to get used to, especially considering Raven had probably played less than a days worth of video games in her whole life. It was certainly easier than a normal car despite all the idiosyncrasies an eight legged machine had over a common wheeled vehicle.

They had deviated course off of the freeway since, having spotted Sigma within eyeshot, the remainder of the highway 17 had become an unnavigable mess of rubble piled atop more rubble with and extra side of rubble for added iron. Raven mention that it reminded her quite well of a certain changeling's room, much to Beast Boy's subsequent agreement and slight embarrassment.

The surrounding landscape, however, was mercifully free of abandoned and destroyed hardware, upturned asphalt, and just generally navigable without major complication. A mild rolling plain of bright grass waved happily in the morning breeze interspersed with flowers and small wildlife; evidence that life was still strong on this dying planet. A polar opposite from the hellish wasteland they had been traveling in since leaving the prison confines of Jump City

Despite the placid and uplifting view it was not completely devoid of evidence and scarring from a full year of planet-wide war. Many small, and several large, craters peppered the proximate ground. But even these indents were filled with gentle life and were only visible due to the artificial way the land sloped down into a bowl-like depression.

Nature, despite its unyielding stamina, couldn't have done all this on it's own in such a short amount of time. Someone, indeed, had worked hard to restore this place to a pre-war beauty and had met with some considerable success. But Raven was doubtful, especially Mad Mod, that this pristine beauty would last once the fighting broke out again, which would, inevitably, come.

The Outpost still hung precariously underneath the rising sun, making it hard to distinguish identifying landmarks in the glaring light that still reluctantly showed itself over the distinguishing line between land and air. A solo column of dust leap from behind an isolated vehicle, a civilian truck in a dressing of camouflage paint.

It was traveling off-road and heading towards the gunship turned private taxi. Gizmo, after peering through a pair of collapsible binoculars, had assured Beast Boy and Raven that it was merely escort from the outpost and that they shouldn't have to worry about being shot at with guns and missiles and lighting bolts, fireballs, or massive chucks of hurled landmass.

Which was a good thing, considering the truck proudly flaunted the fact it was reinforced with extra panels of armor welded onto the sides, over the doors, and onto the windshield. More worrisome than that was the M-60, tripod mounted, that gave the truck its fearsome appearance.

…………………………………………………………………………………

"It's for your own good." Mad Mod was stubborn as a thunderous alarm clock, the kind that gives out a ear piercing siren that you can't turn off because the snooze button was broken.

"Concerned?" Raven

"Advice from your better and don't think it's because I've warmed up to you. I could care more about my hangnails."

"I don't think there's enough deodorant for this conversation." Beast Boy in typical smarmy, arms crossed fashion as he sat with his legs dangling off the side of the vehicle, quietly listening to the throw around between Goth girl and cherry top.

…………………………………………………………………………………

Raven concluded that Mad Mod was acting very strangely. It was something she hadn't really noticed at first, but then various events had come together so fast it was all she could do to remain alive and moving or be swept away in a swathing tide of chaos. Only now in this quiet moment between emergencies did, like a picture slowly coming into focus, the signs become clear and distinctive for what they were.

He was still his teacher-wannabe, high flying, know-it-all, 'I'm better than you,' British self, but now it seemed more of a forced act. Just as a politician who, in times of crisis, told people to remain calm, don't panic, and walk in a single file line, when even they themselves are on the brink of blind panic, barely able to keep it together. Despite having a young and sprightly body, he was now beginning to show his true age that of an old man with the blade of the grim reaper's sickle at his throat.

He seemed far more paranoid, even while talking with her he was constantly checking behind himself and scanning all around as if expecting an ambush at any moment. His left leg twitched occasionally, often in rapid succession, always seeming to want to be somewhere else. Even when he was moving it was not in the same agile and boastful stride as before, replaced with a measured shuffle.

Truthfully, he too had been affected by the long war, just like everyone else she knew. Regardless of her elevated disliking for him, seeing him like this actually made her feel sympathy for him. For his argument she tried to remember that he was on her side, even if it was an artificial alliance. Once the war was over he'd probably go back to the way it was before. That is if the war was still winnable and he was still capable afterwards

Raven, in spite of herself, wondered if Beast Boy noticed it as well. He should've and rightfully so, when he shared similar symptoms albeit on a reduced scale, Gizmo included. Raven attributed it to their youthful energy, but she suspected it was a fleeting condition.

…………………………………………………………………………………

"Since your powers are of no use here, a regular one will do, but you better step to it before our guests arrive." Mad Mod swung his cane to indicate the approaching vehicles.

"Didn't Fixit already tell everyone I had been rescued?

"Indeed, that he did."

"Then an alias is a useless alternative now, besides they would recognize me anyway."

"Fixy, the runt," Mad Mod addressed Gizmo, who gave a shout of disdain, "and I are the only ones who know you're you. Everyone else knows that THE Raven has appeared again and has managed to escape capture, but they don't know where you are exactly. Some may assume, correctly I might add, that you would head to Sigma straight away. We simply say you went elsewhere."

"I don't know about this." Raven was deeply unsure about this conversation and as to the reasons behind Mad Mod's insistence that she adopt an alias. If it was to hide her from the enemy that continually searched for her, then it was a useless attempt to escape their eye. They had started this war over her so it was inconceivable that simply changing her name and outward appearance would cause them to loose sight of their prey. Is that respect the lose of her amethyst seemed to have unexpected benefits however, since it was her most distinguishing mark.

"Why not?" Mad Mod didn't sound surprised or distressed over Raven's refusal, it was hard to tell what he was feeling at the moment.

"Come on Raven," even Beast Boy insisted before Raven could explain herself, "it'll be cool, like an undercover spy in one of those games with the stealth ninja action. Only…maybe without all the ninja stuff," although BB did believe Raven would look cool in a ninja outfit, "or how about that alien dude with the stealth field that made him invisible as he stalked for the kill, that'd be tons cooler. "

"Yeah we could try that," Mad Mod wondered why he hadn't thought of it before, "But we don't have anything like that, you empty brained has been."

"You and Fixit are planning something and I want to know what it is, since I seem to be inescapably tied in with it." Raven released her hands from control over the gunship; had it been a car it would've come to a screeching halt, instead it tilted forward almost precariously. Raven and Mad Mod were statues set against a light wind while Beast Boy and Gizmo both nearly toppled off the ship's side as inertia was released.

"What's in it for you? You said you would explain," not that Raven actually expected him to honor any such promise made under duress.

"I did didn't I" Mad Mod grabbed his chin in thought. What Raven said was true, he did say he'd explain himself once the threat of the gunship had been dealt with. Truthfully he'd never had any real intention of telling her, teacher should never have to explain himself to his students, especially when they couldn't understand what was best for them.

"If that's the case," Mad Mad said almost absentmindedly, "I'll have to think about it."

"Tch," Raven vocalized her expected disappointment. He might be on their side, but still he only worked for his own agenda and answered to no one.

But maybe he still had his uses.

…………………………………………………………………………………

"I would've gotten here sooner, but you stopped halfway," said a familiar voice from the truck after it had parallel parked.

"That voice," the guard dog in Beast Boy was instantly on full alert, "it sounds eerily familiar."

"Your thoughts feel as immature as ever, Beast Boy." Said a handsome boy dressed in a ocean blue and black full-bodied diving suit.

"Oh No!" BB exclaimed in purposefully exaggerated horror, which came out more sarcasm than anything else "Its pretty boy!"

"Nice to see you still remember my name." Aqualad smiled his knowing smile.

"Aqualad," Raven said, genuinely startled. Aqualad looked at her and for a moment before finding his mouth actually worked.

"Oh, hello Raven," he said, taken aback, "sorry I almost didn't recognize you without your uniform." He pointed to his forehead indicating another item he saw missing.

Raven had to resist an urge to cover up her perceived bald spot; suddenly overcome with embarrassment she could feel the heat rising in her cheeks. Aqualad had always been a very handsome young man and in that regard he hadn't changed one bit.

"What are you doing this far from the ocean?" She wanted to change the subject and hide her discomfort, besides it was the best question she could come up with.

"Yeah dude, why don't you go back and hang with Davey Jones."

"Well, I came 'here' to escort Raven directly to Fixit's workshop, incognito like." He said, extending his hand in an inviting manner. His actions made Raven blush all the more. For the life of her she couldn't understand why he had this effect on her. It's not like she really felt romantically attracted to him, but he was so good looking.

"Dude," protested the irate changeling, "that doesn't answer the question and besides Raven doesn't need another bodyguard. I've already got the reins on this job, not you."

"I don't think you understand the situation."

"Hey, I've seen plenty of action. I can whip it good with the best of them." To illustrate his point Beast Boy acted a series of rapid punched with the aim of looking as fierce as he felt. Mad Mod rolled his eyes.

"Oi, some help you've been, you little snot. Were you even trying to stop this bloke," he fiercely banged his cane onto the gunship's armored hull, "from eating up your precious Raven?" Beast Boy turned to face the new assault, clearly hurt at the accusation and not willing to let it slide.

"You weren't there, you didn't see me take down a shadow creature with my bare teeth."

"So you kill one beasty and suddenly your superman eh? I don't think so, my ducky, boarding school is still in session and your in training, and that goes for your blue friend too. The only one doing the 'escorting' here is me."

"Actually," Aqualad stepped in, unconcerned with Mad Mod's appraisal of the situation, "Fixit wanted you two," he pointed at Mad Mod and Gizmo, "to take the ship back to the hangers and if the soldiers ask, tell them you didn't find Raven. Me, I'm to take Raven straight to his workshop without any of the guards finding out."

"Hey! What about me?" Beast Boy inquired hotly, hoping that he wasn't being left out.

"You can come too, only if you promise to behave yourself."

"I'm always on my best behavior."

"Like a hippo with a hernia." Gizmo chirped in.

"Is this a request or an order?" Mad Mod asked of Aqualad.

"Fixit ordered it." Aqualad's voice suddenly became very grim, hinting that refusal could be hazardous.

"Hmph!" Mad Mod looked away trying, unsuccessfully, to his the sneer that split his face. "I guess I'm in no position to refuse, I'll comply. But you tell that rust-tin that he'd better not mess this up." This piqued Raven's curiosity.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Don't worry about it Raven," Aqualad said soothingly. "I can tell you that Fixit will explain everything." He turned, heading back to the truck, "Oh and before you meet him you might want to think up a new name for yourself."

…………………………………………………………………………………

As Raven's body hit and sprawled across the firm and unyielding mattress she let out a sigh, long and tired. It had now been officially twenty four hours since her unexpected arrival on a prison train bound for an alternate Jump City. Since arriving at Fixit's workshop she still hadn't seen anything of the enigmatic mechanical mechanic. Aqualad had showed her to her new living quarters instructing her to not leave until someone came for her. Afterward he had managed to drag Beast Boy away to alternate quarters, and only after he had convinced Beast Boy that she would be safe here.

That had been five hours ago and still no one had come by to see her.

It was still plausible that she'd fall asleep and wake up refreshed back in her own room in Titans Tower. A small part in the back of her head still clung to hope that this experience was all just a seriously deranged dream caused by a bad reaction to some tofu that Beast Boy had slipped into her food without her knowledge. She'd have to give him a strict reprimand in the morning for this night's work.

She spent the next hour trying to achieve that sought after state of oblivion that would take her back to reality. Despite her exhaustion her mind could not find peace as it tried to make sense out of the past day's events. From her appearance in Jump City nearly a year after her supposed death, to being rescued by Alexis, finding Beast boy, the events down Highway 17, Gizmo and Mad Mod, and ultimatly her arrival in this isolated cell. A hammer repeatedly striking her across the head would've been far less frusterating. There was also all of the unanswered questions before all this began. Flare, Jigo, Id and more importantly her father. Where were they in all of this and how did Knives factor into their plans.

Her thoughts tried to encompass everything, but there was a wind blowing all of her thoughts about in her head like confetti. In the chaotic mess she couldn't focus on anything in particular. That was until thoughts of Starfire came to the surface. Of all of her teammates, Starfire was the only one she hadn't caught any hint or clue as to what became of her after the final confrontation with Flare. Robin and Knives, if not already processed into weapons, were still held up within Nova Prospekt and she'd already found both Beast Boy and Cyborg.

So where was Starfire in all this?

Finding no answers, she pulled her self upright on the bed. She wearily rose from her horizontal position and swung her feet onto the cold unfeeling concrete floor. There she sat for untold lengths of time, caught in a silent reverie. When she did rise from off of the sleeping block it was to approach a small slab of reflective glass, a pathetic substitute for a mirror, placed solemnly atop a folding card table that doubled as a work desk, dinner table, and a toiletries counter. A cup of pencils, calling out for a re-sharpening, and a notepad set amongst a bar of soap, a minute sample of shampoo, other female-specific items, a first aid kit, and a clean change of clothing. It all looked like items that were commonly found in convenience stores and she was pretty sure that's where they had gotten them. At least the bare necessities were provided; not even the plain metal walls had wallpaper or decorations of any sort.

She could've killed someone for a good book right about now.

Halfway towards the mirror Raven suddenly changed her mind and decided to examine the extra set of clothes, unfolding them across the bed for a full view. Apart from slightly darker colors and the stink of bleach, it was an exact duplicate of her current attire.

Raven felt herself pining for her old Teen Titans uniform.

Giving up on the thought of clothes for the moment she returned to her previous item of fixation; undressing down to her underwear she grasped the mirror in one hand while using the other to examine her wounds. She had never really been proud of her body or her looks. She found nothing special about her looks, indeed she was quite plain looking without the distinguishing amethyst set atop her forehead. Even Aqualad hadn't recognized her without her clothes or the mark on her forehead. Were those her only identifying marks and without them she was simply another face in the crowd doomed for obscurity?

She twisted her features in doubt and shook her head to clear it.

"That's an awkward thing to think." She consoled herself. Aqualad was simply surprised to see her out of uniform as she was to see him so far away from a major body of water.

A closer examination wasn't necessary for her to see that the swelling over her left eye had receded completely and the bruise was in obvious retreat. It would probably be gone within another day or so, although the mark on her midsection would take considerably longer. If there was one thing she liked about her body was her ability to heal at an accelerated rate, surpassing that of a normal human. It was probably thanks to the demon blood in her veins.

Tracking the mirror across the figure she was able to discover several more bruises across her arms. There also was a shallow but long cut traversing over her neck from the collarbone and to the base of her jaw.

She traced her finger over the mysterious laceration, not able to recall where or when she had received it. It had already scabbed over and was beginning to itch. It was more of a tickle than an itch, but it was annoying nonetheless. Resisting the urge to scratch Raven discarded her old clothes onto the floor, at the foot of the bed, and changed into the new pair generously provided. Immediately the stench of bleach floated into her nostrils, causing her to gag slightly.

Between the smell and the jumbled tangle in her brain she doubted another attempt at sleep would fare any better than before. But there really was nothing else to do while she waited for any news. Gently she laid herself back down, she stared solemnly upwards at the bare ceiling.

Answers would hopefully be coming soon, was she ready to hear them, did she even want to know?

Either way she still had a task to perform, to think of a new name.

Immediately a dozen names came to mind, one after the other, like the beat to rock n' roll music. The trouble was they were all from books she had read previously and each one seemed like they would be too obvious.

"Beast Boy…" she quietly mumbled to herself. How she wished he was here to help her, at least he thought donning an alias was cool and would probably be able to think up names for her. True half of them would be silly and childish just to try and embarrass her.

Truthfully she was hesitant about giving up her real name, even if it was only temporarily. It seemed like she was losing the last shred of her identity, the last bit that made her who she was. She had already lost her past, her family and friends, and even her powers. Was she doomed to lose her identity as well?

No, that wasn't it at all.

Raven then broke out into a relaxed laugh, she was being foolish. Why was she so worried about it? She still had Beast Boy and surly he would never forget her. Aqualad and Fixit, even Mad Mod, knew her and wouldn't forget. She just wasn't used to handling all these emotions.

Yeah, that was it.

Yet she was still far from consoled, the future looked very hopeless from where she saw it, hopefully Fixit would have some good news, it felt like it had been years since she had heard anything positive of anything

She yawned, the constant worry had worn her out but she freely welcome it. She needed some sleep to help her clear her thoughts and prepare for the long trek ahead. She still needed to think up a new name, but that could wait until tomorrow.

"Yes tomorrow…"

Soon Raven fell into a deep painless sleep; she did not dream.


	13. Outpost Sigma part 3

Teen Titans: Trigon Apotheosis

Chapter 13 – Outpost Sigma (part 3: Parts of the Whole)

Raven sat alone in the stagnant isolated chamber, pouring herself a triple helping of water and topping it up with a water. Despite the liquid's insistence at being lukewarm, clouded like thick pea soup, and every time she took a sip would taste of metallic dirt; in spite of all that she still drank down a two quart pitcher as if her life depended on its immediate consumption.

Sometime during the night, as she slept a painful yet dreamless sleep, some one had been thoughtful enough to leave behind a metal pitcher of the aforementioned mostly liquid refreshment and a meal tray of both modest size and humble appearance.

A slice of hard bread, a couple hard pieces of dried fruit, a portion of tough salted meat, and a side of overcooked and pathetic looking vegetables were all that the meal consisted of. All four food groups were present and accounted for, but as of that moment the only thing Raven could bring herself to consume was the water, regardless of its earthly flavor. Not that she wasn't hungry, on the contrary, she was famished but didn't trust the sorry state of the food that had been offered her.

After the water had run dry, she returned to massaging her temples, trying to clear her head. She'd woken with a mild headache, normally not a big bother, but its stubborn annoyance was amplified further by unfavorable circumstances; that there wasn't any bloody aspirin handy, nor an immediate visible solution on how to acquire some. Every now and then a shadow would be caught passing by her door, visible only through the stingy gap that separated the entrance from the artificial ground. But she didn't dare attempt to go forth and ask whoever it for some medicine. She was suppose to be in hiding and besides didn't feel a desire to talk to anyone anyway.

So she sat, alone, waiting and wondering what kind of future awaited her. She'd already had an ephemeral glimpse into the flow of events that had brought the world to its knees but wasn't altogether convinced that she needed, or even wanted, to hear the rest. There was truth in the old saying, 'ignorance is bliss' and, if just for the moment, she was content to just sit in silence and hold onto the rest of her dying hope for a positive turn around.

Meditating, not in regard to her failed powers, but instead to bring back her inner calmness, to shove all emotion to the side and to think logically of a feasible solution. She positioned herself cross-legged, on the floor, cleared her mind of all her immediate troubles and worries. She envisioned that she was back home in the tower alone in the quiet sanctity of her room or even atop the tower basking in the tender warmth of the autumn sun.

Her thoughts carried her to visions of Robin and his overly stubborn personality that could make reinforced titanium break like balsa wood. She was sure that no matter where he was, captured or not, he was giving the spiders hell; never allowing himself to be turned into one of their weapons, never giving up. How long could he last under such strain? Eventually he would break; he was only human after all. Or the enemy would tire of his struggles and simply dispose of him once he outlived their patience.

In Robin's absence Cyborg became the leader. It had always been an unspoken yet well known canon that Cyborg was the second in command, however, until a way was found to separate Cyborg from his 'prison' it was unreasonable to expect him to fulfill his duties. Therefore the role of leader fell upon Raven's shoulders. With Starfire still missing and with no word as to her whereabouts and Beast Boy already exhausted from making his own decisions and looking up to Raven for guidance, the role had, more or less, been handed to her by a process of elimination.

That meant, as leader, her duties were to look after the well-being of her teammates and defeat the enemy. All very straightforward, but nothing was so simple. This would be the third incarnation of the Teen Titans, more or less, but that was 'if' she were to do it. The current roster would consist of herself, Beast Boy, and Aqualad, since he had been given an honorary membership once upon a time.

Three people, it wasn't much but it was a start. Of course she couldn't actually publicly announce the reformation of the Teen Titans nor could she recruit more members. Both would prove more inconvenient than safety would permit. Considering she was supposed to be playing the game as someone else, she couldn't be seen with or associated with the Teen Titans.

Furthermore it was too early for such drastic resolve. When one is drowning, typically the individual will reach out for practically anything to stave off death's approach, no matter how frail or futile the rescue turned out to be. If she overtly declared the return of the Titans, most would see it for what it was; a useless attempt to disguise the inevitable end, and those who would accept would only did so out of a misguided hope.

No, until her situation improved and she had one or two major victories under her leadership to prove the Titans worth in this new world, as well as their willingness and ability to become a guiding force toward victory, until then the whole team would have to silently follow a code of silence and return to its roots: a covert team. This was exactly how the team had once started out in the beginning, when Knives had been a founding member and she was coming of age.

An undercover team to avoid public, private, and foreign eyes and dedicated solely to forwarding its own unique agenda.

Still she had doubts, so extensive in number that they could eclipse the moon if given physical form. It was impossible to address possible solutions by herself, she couldn't even settle on which item to straighten out first to begin hammering out a plan of attack. The odds were increasingly against her, how could she save a world when she, herself, was lost? She might as well try to break apart a mountain using only her bare hands and blindfolded.

This was going nowhere, Raven decided, and resigned from her individual deliberations. She couldn't pretend to be the leader that Robin had been. He just had what it took to keep the team together through thick and thin, to . True there had been times when his techniques had come under question and even allowed for a to a level of mistrust amongst the team to take hold, but right now what was needed was a decisive plan and action. Robin would supply both, but what could she do? She had the brains but not the means.

Besides she wasn't leader material and who would follow her anyway?

Raven felt the slight hope she had built, slip from underneath her like a house of cards under a gale. No one would follow her, no one. She had always been the loner of the team, the outcast, the creepy goth girl, a deamon child and ultimately proved to be the reason for Earth's destruction.

Maybe BB and Aqualad would help her, but in the end they too would leave her when they realized just how weak she had become. Of that she was certain.

…………………………………………………………………………………

As if sensing her downward emotional spiral there came a light knock echoing across the chamber door. It was so faint and brief that Raven wasn't sure if she hadn't simply imagined it. She waited, waited with her breath trapped in her lungs, pounding for release, for fear the sound would cover up the signal for release.

Again the knocking played across the door, this time with slightly more force to propel it further in Raven's ears. She abandoned her meditation and walked over to answer the door. She gingerly cracked the entrance open just enough to glimpse who was quietly rapping against her chamber door.

There was a young boy on the other side; she didn't recognize him. He looked like one of those models from 'Punk Rocker Today.' He was garbed in a pair of jeans that would've existed as shorts had the legs not been held up by a dense row of safety pins. White tennis shoes permanently stained from too many close encounters with mud puddles hung loosely from his feet. A long sleeved, forest green shirt with holes cut in the sleeve cuffs for the boy's thumbs completed the array of teenage attire. He hair; it looked sharp enough to cut, like a blond porcupine had taken up residence on the top of his head.

"So," the boy spoke in a familiar voice, "I see you checking out my good. Smokin' isn't it?" he smiled a toothy grin. If the voice wasn't evidence enough, the face splitting smile that graced both ears on the boy's face did.

"Beast Boy?" Raven said trying to hide her dumbfounded astonishment.

"Awh," disappointment painted BB's face, "How could you recognize me so fast?"

Raven opened her mouth to speak, but had malfunctioned as her mind suffered a harddrive failure. "I have my ways." She finally spoke after a total reboot. He had almost fooled her, but he didn't need to know that; but she couldn't fathom why BB hadn't figured out his Achilles heel. "How?"

"This really cute babe, uhh…Ether that's her name; well her Titan name, gave them too me; said she made them herself and even did the hair." There was a lot of admiration and even a hint of lust in his goofy grin. A twitch in Raven's left eye wanted to force her face into a staccato smile, but resisted through sheer force of will. Raven wanted nothing more to smack that look off of his face, there was only so much impending doom that sheer will alone could divert. She tried to change the subject to try and not give into the rising heat in her face.

"I mean, your skin and hair." BB did look, in every way like a normal human teen, clothes and hair notwithstanding. His skin was no longer the grass green it had once been and his hair was a walking imitation of a pin cushion. Now that her eyes had time to adjust she could see BB's face clearly despite the altered hues.

"Ether, weren't you listening. She's amazing, there's this whole holo disguise woven into the clothes. Did I mention she made them herself? As long as I wear them no one will recognize me. I'll be like undercover agent Beast Boy sneaking up on the enemy. A beast in the bushes, undetectable, ready to strike and then I'll pounce!" BB suddenly gave a live demonstration by jumping suddenly, straight as an arrow for Raven; with hands outreached like he wanted to tear out her throat like he did the shadow beast's.

Raven's eyes widened in a sudden shock, the muscles in her legs came over the control of an autonomous defense and contracted hard before launching herself backwards away from her assailant. Mentally, reflexive, willed herself into flight something she had done a hundred times over in innumerable fights. The rush of power slammed against its unmovable invisible cage and she was deprived of her reactive defense and fell like a normal human.

Her body slammed against the table hard; its weak metal legs bent and broke under the sudden violent weight of her body, falling, landing with a blast of cacophonous noise and a choked cry of surprise and pain as Raven's body contacted brutally down against the unyielding cement floor which offering no sympathy or cushioning.

The contents of the table were strewn across all four corners of the room like a burst of confetti from a nitro powered party favor. Raven's body lay still amongst the twisted ruins of the table and a groan escaped her lips; strained and weak. She released a series of hacking coughs; her lungs aching from unrestraint decompression. The world in her eyes tipped from side to side as if seen through a layer of rippling water. Green filled her vision and for a moment she felt sick to the core of her stomach, but the rising tide of nausea was stemmed by the wayside when she realized the green was not from the source of her inner unrest but the concerned visage of Beast Boy's wretchedly unfocused face. He was speaking something to her, she could hear the words; knew she was hearing his voice, but she was unable to process the language it was just a string of strewn words.

"Raven, Raven you all right? I'm sorry it was just a joke; a little scare."

…………………………………………………………………………………

Beast Boy kneeled by Raven's side, her pupils darted in random directions trying to focus on everything at once and at nothing at all. He lifted her head gently and probed the back of her hair; no blood, that was good. He peered into her ears, checking for signs of blood or a clear fluid and was relieved to find none present.

A medic had once told him long ago that if someone bled a clear fluid from their ears after a devastating blow to the head, it was the absolute worse sign and probably meant that the injured wouldn't survive. Of course Beast Boy had been told that as he watched a good friend pass away.

But to Beast Boy, when he saw Raven falling, when he heard her head crack miserably against the cruel floor, he was suddenly taken elsewhere as that single event awoke the memories for which he had abandoned everything and gone into hiding; just so that he could forget the horrible agonizing crush of feeling so helpless.

…………………………………………………………………………………

Author's note: Yeah I'm super late and there is suppose to be more here, but I'm going on a trip for the next three days and wanted to post this up before I left. Good news though. My senior college year has started up again, even though I won't be able to attend for the first fall semester due to financial troubles. But I will be getting back into the weekly updates again. No more of these month long hiatuses for me.


	14. Outpost Sigma Final

Teen Titans: Trigon Apotheosis

Chapter 14 – Outpost Sigma Part 4: Final

"Don't do that Beast Boy!" Raven groaned as she held her head, feeling a knot already forming on the back of her scalp.

"Rae," Beast Boy said in genuine concern, "are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Raven said in a mordant tone, "Other than you nearly killing me, yes, I'm doing remarkably well. I've got bruises, lacerations, burns, and now a painful knot on the back of my head. All I need now is a stomach ulcer, athletes foot and a rare tropical disease to finish my collection."

Beast Boy signed in relief that his friend was not hurt too bad, only after that did he force a smile at Raven's attempt at sarcasm. The pain quickly receded from the not-too-serious head wound and Raven opened her eyes to find BB standing over her, his face a mere foot from her own and full with a concerned smile. Raven was not used to having Beast Boys face so close a little closer and they could…they could…!

Raven blushed at the thought and quickly used her other hand, shoving it into BB's face and pushing him back with all the strength she had. He fell back upon his rear with a hiccup of surprise. With out giving BB a chance Raven scrambled to her feet and stood tall over him, her face reflecting her every intention to get right down to business.

Thanks to him her room was a mess, the card table legs were bent and disfigured, the water pitcher had shattered on contact with the floor, and her sparse breakfast was all over the place, unsuitable to eat now. She could still feel the dull ache pulsing at the back of her head putting her into an even fouler mood.

"Why are you here?" she said sternly.

"Why are any of us here?" BB said in mocking seriousness.

"No," Raven was already getting exasperated, "Why did you come in here? It isn't to improve my health. Was it just to show me the outfit your girlfriend made for you?"

"Girlfriend?" BB chuckled as he regained his stance, " No, Raven, I only caught a glimpse of Ether while I was choosing my get-up. You should see it there is a whole closet filled full of spy wear to choose from." BB said proudly as he showed off his punk biker attire. The clothes, of which, had a holographic matrix built into it, hiding BB's naturally green skin and pointed ear. Instead he appeared so human that it was almost impossible to recognize him; only his voice, childish attitude, and toothy grin remained to give him away, but that was only noticeable to people who actually knew him.

"Too bad they didn't have a ninja suit for you to wear Raven," BB continued, even though it was clear he was agitating Raven into thoughts of violence involving him, water, and a car battery.

Raven's other thought, besides the car battery was, 'I'm not wearing no ninja suit.' However it came out as, "They have a ninja suit?" There was a hint of curiosity.

"Yeah, it'd be so cool if you wore it. Then we could call you 'Crouching Dragon, or Flying Tiger." BB pantomimed some exaggerated karate moves; Raven rolled her eyes.

"Your as big an idiot as ever." Raven pointed out the obvious.

"Thanks Rae-Rae!" BB gave a wide grin. "Speaking of which…" BB intoned slyly, "Did you finally choose your ultra cool spy-ninja alias?" Again BB pretended he knew karate.

"Actually I did." Raven said with a straight face. That got BB's attention.

"O really…" BB froze in mid-round house kick.

She hadn't really thought of one, she only said that to shut BB up. She should've realized it would only make him nag her more to know what it was.

"Yeah, really,"

"Don't be a name hog, I wanna know what to call you." BB pleaded like a child wanting candy from a parent. Raven lifted an eyebrow. Time to think fast; something she wasn't good at otherwise she wouldn't be silently cursing Beast Boy's ancestors.

"I'll tell you later." She crossed her arms while brushing off BB. She couldn't just choose a random name out of think air, it had to have meaning yet not be so unique as to look silly. BB looked ready to burst into a fit of pouting when a quirky, defiantly British voice sounded off in the hallway outside Raven's room.

"Oy! What is taking you so long, me duckies." Mad Mod spoke in that impatient teacher voice that drove school kids up the wall. He rapped his cane against the metal wall a few times for emphasis and clicked his tongue as well.

Raven had already had it with BB, she didn't want to have to deal with that self centered redheaded Brit on top of it all. She groaned in annoyance before saying, "Guess we should go before 'Old Grandpa' has a stroke."

"I heard that, you bloody brat!" Mad Mod raised his voice, emerging in the doorway at last, clearly insulted. Raven gave an innocent shrug as if she didn't know what he was talking about.

"In case you hadn't heard from the littl' green tart," Mad Mod ran his fingers through BB's hair, in the same manner he would a small pet, before "Fixit is looking to school you in current events of utmost importance." Mad Mod indicated some unseen destination with his cane. "Something I'm sure you'll both find most enlightening."

With nothing further to say, Mad Mod lead Raven and Beast Boy in silent procession with no hint or clue given as to where he was taking them. Hoping that Fixit would soon be able to take the brats off his hands.

…………………………………………………………………………………….

The three of them departed from Raven's room. When they had first brought her here she hadn't been paying much attention, but Raven began to notice some things she hadn't before. They had bunked her up in a hospital, it wasn't obvious at first given its state of disrepair, but they soon passed by a directory sign hanging from the ceiling. It had labels like, Diagnostics lab-305, Surgery-201, those sorts of things, written across them. The place hadn't seen any patients for a long time. Not surprising seeing as it was virtually stripped of anything useful.

It was an unexciting walk to the front hospital lobby. There would have been glass everywhere had someone not come before them and sloppily swept it all into makeshift piles. All of the furniture was overturned and some had been beaten into a mess of splinters.

Before stepping to the morning light, Mad Mod conjured up a worn out stocking cap, faded blue, and handed it to Raven. She noticed a slight chilly breeze coming in through the glass-less windows, but she wasn't getting the cap it because it was cold outside. He didn't need to say anything for Raven immediately put it on and made sure all of her violet hair was concealed. She though she saw a nod of approval from Moddie, but didn't care to acknowledge it.

Waiting for them outside was a 60s style Volkswagen Beetle. It obviously belonged to Moddie cause although frame wise it looked clean and normal enough, it was the brightly colored British flag and psychedelic paint job that made such a strong affirmation of who its true owner was. It was also shiny, very shiny, newly polished and everything. It was anathema to the dirt and decay that was the surrounding city streets.

"Yeeaah, no one going to notice us in that." Raven shielded her eyes from color culprit car, she would not have been surprised if she opened the hood to find the engine polished with bees wax and smelling of flowers and perfume.

"Rae, I think Moddie is smoking something strong." BB whispered to Raven.

"I hope it isn't contagious?" she whispered back.

…………………………………………………………………………………….

While the car's exterior was jovial and hippie hugging, the interior was rather somber and underwhelming. The seats were leather, but they were long past their prime. Dull in color, riddled with rips and scratches, and utterly uncomfortable. Raven and Beast Boy sat together in the back of the car. Neither one wanted to sit next to Moddie for fear of catching something viral. Mad Mod, on the other hand, had taken the drivers seat in the vehicle, on the right side, as was the English way.

"Dude, what wrong with your car? It's built backward." BB tried, mostly, to act civil in pointing out an obvious flaw.

"This is the right side ya 'tosser'." Mad Mod barked the insult, while his grip on the steering wheel noticeably tightened.

"That was an insult." Raven said, seeing the expression of misunderstanding on BB's face.

"I know that," he then tried to look angry, but he just didn't get it, "but what does it mean?"

"I'll tell you what it means," Mod rotated his head to look BB right in the eye, "It means this is the one and only way to make a proper automobile. You'd do well to remember that."

"What ever dude." BB dismissed it as being an uninteresting conversation.

"Should we paint it as tasteless as you do?"

Mad Mod just ignored her as he inserted the key into the ignition, priming the engine with no difficulty. They were soon underway with no further problems.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Mod carefully drove his pristine vehicle down the empty city streets, not surprisingly in the left lane. No one had said anything for a near dozen minutes, yet a point in inquiry began to form on the lips of Beast boy. As far as he was concerned and given Mod's history of being over the top excessive, compulsive, feverishly animated, and in general an overall bad due with a complete disregard to common law; it bewildered BB as to,

"Why the hell are you driving so slow?" He couldn't stand it any longer. There were wide-open stretches of city track ahead of them, no one else in sight, and he doubted that any one would care if they had a little fun. "You can go faster than 15! Floor this sucker to the max!"

Mod acted as if he hadn't heard, but instead suddenly slammed on the breaks and brought the Beetle to a complete stop.

"Is this it?" Raven asked quizzically since as all she saw was a blown out gas station and the decrepit remains of a coffee shop.

BB gave huff of displeasure, "Man, this would've been faster walking."

"Patience, me duckies, you are not ready to meet his majesty quite yet." Mod spoke in a low, almost hushed tone, almost as if he was afraid of someone overhearing him, while simultaneously tossing two small pieces of cloth to the two teens in the back.

"Your kidding right?" BB frowned at the black strips of cloth, "This is so uncool."

"Tasteless and clichéd." Raven agreed, disliking it even more.

Mod didn't turn around to address their dislike for the blindfolds, but his tone hinted at the possibility that he too agreed with their concerns, "I'm very serious, his majesty's orders. We don't go any further until you put on the blindfolds."

"Who do you mean?" Raven asked, "Fixit?" A slight nod from Mod confirmed it, "He doesn't trust us then." she was confused by Fixit's strange request and Mod's sudden change of tone. Before Mad Mod had referred to Fixit as 'scrap bucket,' 'rin-tin-rust,' 'tin can,' and other such unflattering names. It appeared to Raven that he had some serious sort of leverage over Mad Mod. It would explain Mod's sudden attitude change and hushed tone when in virtual close proximity.

"His majesty may be made of metal and wire, but that scroat has a fiendish understanding of irony." Mod lamented, his head lowered in shame and suddenly, despite his youthful appearance, he gave off a feeling of a far older man.

Raven didn't know Fixit very well. All she knew was that he was an artificial intelligence of an unknown creator. He could be recognized by his irrefutable logic, cold metal exterior, unfeeling emotions, and an uncomfortable preference to surround himself in machines of his own creation instead of people.

"Is he blackmailing you?" Raven asked, suddenly and unexpectedly feeling slightly sorry for Mod.

"Your smart for a fit student, my ducky. But I'm too knackered to answer that." Mod answered plainly.

Raven and Beast boy just looked at each other, unsure of what to make of this sudden revelation. Whatever it was Fixit had over Mod, it must've been quite terrible in order to turn Mod into the disgruntled slave sitting in front of them. This was just one more question amongst a mountain of others Raven hopped would be answered soon.

"So what's it going to be, my duckies?" Mad Mod made a quick change of topics, "Put on the blindfolds now, otherwise you can forget about getting your audience."

Beast Boy still looked very uncomfortable with the idea, Raven flaunted a new total apathy for fixit and his blindfolds.

"We're going to look stupid." BB argued. Mad Mod gave a

"We all look stupid at certain time in our lived but the key is to not and mind it too much." Mod tried to comfort their hesitation. "Fixit has gone through a lot of trouble to set this up and clear you through this blockade. The average duckie would be grateful, wouldn't want to cause Fixit any more trouble."

"We're hardly average." Raven countered confidently.

"No your not. That's a very good point, I'm not either." Mad Mod turned around to finally address them eye to eye. "Fixit doesn't like average dukies, he likes his well spoken, smart, presentable." He paused for a moment before continuing, "Did I ever tell you I have a Masters in Literature?"

"Don't take this personally, but you don't seem the type." Raven gave him a sarcastic tone.

"Everything is illusion, Raven, concepts of light, sound, metaphor, nothing is real. Except for those blindfolds, which you will put on now or we turn around."

Raven was surprised to hear Mod address her by name, but instead chose to reply. "Won't people find it odd to see us with blindfolds on?"

"No, his majesty keeps a back door open just in case he has wished to keep financial transactions, or the movement of certain individuals or items hidden." Raven gave a nod to show her confidence before she placed the blindfold over her eyes.

"I still don't like this." BB said as he followed Raven's lead.

Satisfied that the two Teen Titans were now playing by the rules, Mad Mod turned back to peer at the highway stretching out before them, turning the ignition. The car returned to life with a content purr.

"If you tell anyone I said this, I will deny it to the fag end. I hope Fixit is right about you brats being worth all this effort." Mad Mod accelerated down the road meeting a speed more satisfactory of his personality. Raven and BB could see anything, but they could feel the car take off in speeds that must've exceeded at least 80 miles an hour.

"You? Concerned for us?" Raven probed with suspicion, "what are you thinking?"

"Look at this place. 50,000 people used to live in this city, now it's a ghost town." Mod said reflecting on the empty road ahead. "I've never seen anything like it. A year ago I never would've been able to imagined such a place." Somehow he came across as truly remorseful. To Raven it was further proof that the world had been turned upside down. No longer were the lines between friend and foe so clearly defined, they were become far more blurry than she liked. She still trusted Beast Boy, but that was about it. There was no telling where Mad Mod intentions lay, or Fixit for that matter. They had changed so much in just a single year it was almost impossible to comprehend.

The ride lasted an unknown, but nonetheless minute and insignificant amount of time. They made several right turns, and a couple left. At times it felt they had turned a complete circle. However, even while trying to keep track of where they were heading, there was no possible way to tell exactly where they were, thanks to the blindfolds.

Eventually Raven gave up trying to keep track of their locations. She settled down into the leather seat and, despite its unpleasantness, she fell into a shallow nap. Yet even while her consciousness slowly faded she began to question to wisdom of their trusting Mod or Fixit.


	15. Conflicts of Interest part 1

Teen Titans: Trigon Apotheosis

Chapter 15 – Conflicts of Interest (part one)

A pair of unseen hands gently shook Raven from her peaceful sleep. She almost wanted to say, 'what a strange dream,' or 'get out of my room,' but when her heavy eyes opened to black interior of the blindfold she immediacy suppressed any notion that she had been dreaming. Removing her blindfold she awoke to Beast Boy ushering her out of the car. At least she was sure it was Beast Boy, her eyes were still trying to adjust to the midday sun.

She was unsure of exactly how long Mod had been driving, but she felt somewhat refreshed from her brief slumber. Without waiting for the two teenagers, Mad Mod power walk from the car towards down the city block. His stride powered with a focused purpose carrying them all towards an unseen destination. Raven and Beast Boy had to jog to avoid loosing him and keep pace. It was odd that a leisurely paced car ride had suddenly become the 300 meter dash.

After about five minutes of this quickened tempo Mad Mod unexpectedly changed direction from his straight as a bullet flight and headed towards an old building, seemingly chosen at random. Everything on this side of the city looked the same as the other one, decrepit and deserted. If Raven didn't know better she'd have accused Mod of driving them in circles. Yet still he walked with wings on his feet, while the two Titans jogged to keep up. The physical strain was starting to show through as beads of sweat forming on their foreheads and breathing becoming quick and deep.

Mad Mod finally settled on a vacant store nestled next to an old office complex. The sign in the store read, "Lot for Rent" and despite the destruction surrounding it, it was actually in pretty good shape. They entered the building, crossed through, and then promptly exited through the back door to the two Titans surprise.

It seemed Mod was going through an awful lot of trouble to throw them off the trail. Raven had an uncomfortable feeling of being lead astray but even more worrisome was the unsound sense of being watched, and it was growing without reason.

"Are we being followed? Is that why they insist on the blindfolds and secret passages?" Raven wondered. The easiest answer to the questions was that Fixit didn't trust them to keep the way a secret. That was indeed the official explanation given by Mod, but she never trusted the 'official reason,' from anyone, especially Mad Mod or politicians. There were always ulterior motives; one just had to pay attention and read between the lines.

She wanted to ask about it, but the fear of being pursued by unseen eyes kept her mouth shut and her feet moving. Beast Boy too had an uneasy expression, indicating that he undoubtedly felt the same way. He also kept sniffing at the air as if he sensed something out of place. All Raven could make out was mold and stale air; but she understood Beast Boy's superior sense of smell was telling him something else. She just hoped that she was overreacting but still her heart was gaining speed despite having stopped the long jog.

"I'm just out of shape," she tried to reason between huffs of air, to calm herself, with little success. Entering the alley behind the vacant building, they promptly took a right turn, walked a few meters, and then Mod used a key to unlock a metal back door of another building.

Entering into the unlit room, Mad Mod flipped on a light switch while he impatiently waited for the two teenagers to follow suit. He then slammed shut the door and promptly locked it again. Raven noticed that from the outside it looked like a normal thin metal door with an innocent keyhole, but here, on the inside, the door was clearly reinforced with a vertical row of steel trusses and the locking mechanism was a hydraulic powered steel beam. If something was following them hopefully it hadn't anticipated the need for some serious explosive power. With the door shut and sealed there was a widespread sense of relief amongst all of them.

"What did you smell?" Raven asked once her heart decided the danger had passed.

"What?" Beast Boy hadn't heard her.

"Never mind." She barked, suddenly feeling extremely agitated for even asking.

"What's gotten you all uptight?" Beast Boy was clearly confused by Raven's sudden mood swing into hostility.

"Just forget about it." She replied, dismissing the conversation as a product of unproven paranoia.

Witness to this brief exchange was four long rows of large white squares. Conventional wisdom revealed them to be large clothes driers and washers in alternating order. Sitting in silent revere these machines seemed to regard the newcomers with a sense of foreboding mixed in with the faint smell of bleach and ironing starch. The front door to the Laundromat was also reinforced with an identical armored door. Plus the windows were also blockaded with metal panels welded right onto the frames, blocking the view in or out.

Choosing to ignore the two teenager's childish ranting, Mad Mod approached the 2nd row of machines closest to them and chose a dryer three down, opening the porthole door he stuck in his head to check the interior, extracted it and then beckoned Raven and Beast boy to climb in.

"Alright my duckies, now its time to head underground." he whispered.

Casually peering into the black hole of the dryer, Raven found the beginning handle of a ladder heading down a secret passage.

"How far down does it go?" She asked. Not that she was afraid of heights, far from it, she just had an inherent disliking of being told to climb down long dark tunnels to unknown places without sufficient good reason.

"Far enough into the belly of the beastie." Mod replied as dramatically as he could.

"That's not helping." Raven glared at him, hoping her discomfort didn't show.

"I hope he's vegetarian." Beast Boy quipped. Mod and Raven stared at BB like he had a large boil on his face. "What? It was a joke." BB smiled

Raven wanted to chastise BB's horrendous sense of humor, but didn't get the chance. She was implacably interrupted by a sudden loud crashing noise impacting the back door with the force of a speeding car. The reinforced door gave a shudder and the trusses buckled slightly under the pressure, but it held solid. It was a single fierce instance followed by a scrapping of metal on metal. The trio were immediately on their toes, but froze where they stood, listening. The unwarranted knock on the door became an unremitting violent hammering as the nameless force began a substantial effort to break the door down; to get at its prey inside.

The hammering sent earthquake like vibrations throughout the room; dust loosened and fell, filling the room with a cloud of particles. Yet the door was resisting it all, but was slowly losing the battle as a bulge formed in its center, pushing inward and getting larger with each impact. The metal trusses were bending and the lock had been cracked, hydraulic fluid spilling on the floor. The door wouldn't last much longer.

"Move your Rolf Harris!" Mod barked at Raven, who had unexpectedly positioned herself been blocking the way out. Just the commanding tone of his voice sent her into the dryer with renewed vigor. Her body was small enough that she had no trouble climbing through the dryer porthole feet first. Her feet felt around for the ladder, slipping of the first rung, she nearly plunged into darkness but her hands caught the edge of the dryer allowing time to get a stable hold on the second rung. She started to climb downward in haste, Beast Boy swiftly following after her. He leaped at Raven and could have sent them both to their doom, but instead he folded his body upon itself and reforming into a smaller shape. He collided onto Raven but the force of a green mouse on her shoulder didn't even make her flinch.

The battered back door was giving an audible protest of failing integrity as Mad Mod was the last one into the dryer. Entering feet first he closed the dryer behind them and locked it from the inside. The trio proceeded rapidly downward as the brutal hammering continued before the unmistakable noise of a door ripping from its hinges followed by a loud metal crack. They could hear the creature enter the room with the stride of a galloping horse. It gave off a strangled throaty call, something like a hyena, but this was cold and lifeless as it reverberated from an artificial voice, synthesized by some mechanical monstrosity. It galloped across the room, the three fugitives saw its shadow pass across the secret dryer, and it headed for the front door, slammed into it with an equal amount of force. Believing its prey had escaped out the front the creature exited through the back. The last they heard of the creature was it running down the alley, presumably to circle the building.

The creature was gone, for now at least, Raven realized she'd been holding her breath out of fear the creature would've heard it despite all the noise it was causing. She promptly gave a second sigh of relief in as many minutes. No longer hindered the procession of two, plus mouse, continued their descent down.

"What was that?" Beast Boy quietly squeaked. Doubtful the creature could him at this depth, but no sense in trying his luck.

"That was a bloody Hunter," was Mod's answer, "bloody Spiders have them all over the place."

"When did you know we were being followed?" Raven asked.

"I don't need to know that they were following me. Good ol' Moddie always plans ahead. It's the British way to always know-how to shag your foe."

"Shouldn't you worry that they'll eventually grow wise and find their way in?" Raven asked as they continued their descent.

"Me, worry? I don't think so. But supposing that lot gets lucky enough to find their way, we'll just collapse the tunnel on them and ol' Moddie will have a jolly good laugh about it afterwards." Mod sounded proud about this particular deadly feature; Raven and Beast Boy disagreed. They found it to be rather bad form to suddenly have the ceiling collapse on them at any moment.

"This isn't the only way in, is it?" Raven asked, sort of guessed, as she reached the bottom of the tunnel. Mod leaped from the ladder, landing gracefully on the earthen ground.

"Of course not, there was the heavily armed and armored front portcullis to the castle." Mod mentioned it as a flowery afterthought

"WHAT!" Raven and Beast Boy shouted in shock

"Yes that defiantly would've been the safer way to travel." Mod had that look of quiet contemplation as if he were thinking deep thoughts and not pissing off two teenagers.

"What's is wrong with you!" Raven wondered if these headaches were normal.

"Well it'd be too easy, smuggling you in is so much more exciting. Don't you agree my duckies?"

Raven could only grumbled in annoyance, while Beast Boy gave several disapproving squeaks. There was no reasoning with the man.

With Mod again in the lead and Beast Boy back to normal, the three travelers began the trek down the dirt tunnel. It was like traveling through a giant ant hive, at least that was how Beast Boy felt about it. Unlike an ant tunnel this one was supported by a series of wooden 'ribs' and light was provided by low cost halogen lamps suspended from the center of the ribs, strategically placed so that the cone of light from one would only slightly overlap the next one's area. All the lights were connected by a single line of what looked to be criminally cheap wire.

"Bet you when one goes out, they all do." Beast Boy casually observed, to a slight, almost imperceptible nod of agreement from Raven.

Further along still Raven began to suspect that the ground was slopped at a slight angle downwards. Hard to notice in the dim lights but it seemed the further down they went the heavier the air began to weight on their lungs and the stronger the stench of wet earth. All in all it wasn't nearly as bad as the cockroaches. Their numbers shifted between more than a couple to just a few short of several thousand, but they remained a constant assault on the senses, especially the disturbing crunch when one got underfoot.

"Gah, gross! Dude you seriously need some roach motels or something."

"Would that not be killing your own kind?" Mad Mod had a goofy grin. Beast boy gave a laugh and smile painted on with sarcasm.

From there the insults became even more vicious; Beast boy calling Mod an uptight red herring, with Mod following it up with a retort of 'useless wanker.' Each insult becoming more and more creative, including many things Raven would never dare repeat. There was a benefit to all this, the argument helped them forget about the creepy crawlies for a little while as they sped down the tunnel. It was now a race between the 'green faced snot' and the 'red baboon hippie' to see who could make it to the end first.

A few minutes tolerance of thie idiotic behavior culminated in the welcomed arrival at the end of the tunnel. The narrow passage suddenly opened up into a large cavernous intersection. There were two other tunnels just like the one they'd come out of, but these were not where Mod, begrudgingly, took them. He, instead, pointed over to an elevator shaft built out of chain link fence and situated into the wall of the cavern. Mod pressed the 'call' button and within moments an elevator cab could be heard rising from somewhere deep underground.

The elevator doors opened up without nay a sound, inviting them in like it was expecting them. The three travelers stepped onto the cab which wasn't the traditional enclosed box, but instead was a single platform without guardrails even. It ran off of a motor, situated in the right corner that drove wheels off of four metal tracks, one on each corner, and not the usual counter weight system.

"Say one word about elevator music and I'll kick you straight in the Royal Alberts." Mod threatened with some British cockney slang.

"What?" Beast Boy tried to act innocent, but only gave himself away. Mad Mod snorted in contempt.

"Listen up now children, I'm not going to repeat myself. This platform 'er has only one destination and thus there is only one button that works, the rest are decoys." Mod indicated the elevator floor panel, which showed that there were up to 50 floors to choose from.

"What happens if we should 'accidentally' push the wrong one?" Beast boy asked. Raven flashed him a 'don't think about it' glare.

"You trigger the alarm." Mod answered, "Then the computer looks in and says,' Who's this double yoker?' before it pumps your lungs full of a bit of the ol' nerve gas." Mod sounded personally proud of this particular feature; something told Raven that he had personally had a hand in designing it.

"Isn't that a little extreme?" Not sure why she asked, extreme seemed to be Mod's view on life in general.

"Can't be too careful these days, my duckies"

"I wish you'd stop calling us that."

"That's too bad, I've grown rather fond of it myself." Mad Mod quickly reached out and tapped the button labeled '42'. The button glowed with a momentary light but then dimmed the moment his hand left the button. The metal gate closed with a content sigh as the elevator platform began its return descent.

"What button did you press?" BB had missed Mod's sudden and subtle movement.

"Sorry shrimp, Not paying attention, so your plum out of luck"

"Raven which number was it?"

"What's the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything?" Raven instead quizzed BB. The answer of which should've been obvious to a science fiction nut like Beast Boy.

"What does that have to do with it?" BB had a feeling Raven was playing with him; which she was. "I just want an answer, not riddles." Raven was surprised that he didn't know the answer, but in retrospect it really wasn't 'that' surprising. It was Beast Boy after all.

"Jolly good show." Mad gave Raven a genuine smirk, pleased that someone had gotten it. Raven hesitated for a moment, It was the first time she'd ever seen Mad Mod give anyone any kind of approval of any kind. She was unsure that Mod was indeed giving her a compliment, but returned with a smile of her own, delighting in BB's torture. Enjoyment in giving Beast boy difficulty, it would seem, was something that they had in common.

"Man, since when did you two get married?" BB noticed the exchange of silent compliments between the others. Realizing he was outnumbered for the time being he sat himself down on the platform and sulked, at least until the elevator reached the bottom.

At their destination they found themselves inside another long corridor, but this one was far more pleasant. This one it was constructed of aluminum, had window panes spaced out down the corridor's sides, was air conditioned at a pleasant 71 degrees, dry, no smells, and best of all there was not a single roach in sight.

As they passed by they took curious glances out one of these windows. On the other side of the pane the view opened up into a grand opening. It was as tall as a military aircraft hanger probably three times as long. It was even constructed in a similar fashion, supports on the sides rising up in a dome shaped ceiling supported by two rows of durable steel trusses. Weaving about Inside this hanger was a large gathering of humans mixed with mechanical robots assistants tending to a half dozen mechanized vehicles along with several aircraft.

"Hey look." Beast Boy broke his silent reverie, taking a sudden interested in one aircraft in particular.

The one his eyes had a hold on was, to everyone else's surprise, the very same alien gunship they had faced down only the day before. They figured it was the same one because even at this distance they could clearly make out the diminutive figure of Gizmo hoping about, dismantling it. However, there was something weird about how he did it.

The gunship had been dismantled into a large number of scattered pieces and had random wired pulled from its insides and leaking fluid on the floor. Gizmo was removing the more 'fleshy' parts from the gunship's frame and handed them off to an assistant who promptly catalogued it and suspended it in a strange orange liquid contained within a plastic cylindrical container. Placing the newly catalogued sample with the others, the assistant selected an 'empty' container and waited for Gizmo to hand him another. Nearby there was a two level wheeled cart that contained a hundred or more similar containers of orange goo. A handful already contained biological samples from the gunship.

Raven recognized it for what it was, Gizmo was dissecting it like a lab experiment, harvesting its organs for later study and exploitation. She found the idea very unsettling considering her relationship to it, but that wasn't what caused distress to grab her heart in its vice. The cockpit hatch was wide open; the ship's internal workings laid bare for her to see and all she saw was a vacant aperture.

Where is Cyborg?" Raven asked in a firm, almost calm, tone yet her fists were clenched and body stiff, she had a growing need to start tearing this whole place down. She wasn't sure why she was reacting to this extreme, but seeing them butchering the ship this way, anger at Cyborg's situation, and a depression over her uselessness. It set something off inside her. There had always been a growing need to scream and this finally had set it off. She needed answers now. She need to know there was still hope for them all, but couldn't seem to find her way. Raven didn't expect help from the likes of Mod or Fixit, they only had their own interests at heart.

"You better not have taken him apart or we'll finish it right here!" Beast Boy reacted to her tone as if it was a command to attention and jumped into a hostile stance by her side, ready to back her up.

Mad Mod retreated a few step, momentarily startled by the sudden aggressive response.

"He is…"Mod began, trying to stall and think of a good answer..

"Where?" Raven demanded fire.

"He is someplace safe where he can do no harm and where no harm can come to him." Mod leveled his face with Raven's, peering out from under his spectacles he returned Raven's aggression step for step. "I'm sure you can agree there are worse alternatives." What followed was a tense silence, the kind that started wars.

"So that's it?" Raven continued. "So it was a mistake trusting you to help Cyborg."

"To answer your question…" Mod adjusted his spectacles, "Yes, yes it was. His majesty has plans for the lad and for all of us."

Sorry for the long wait. I'm getting back into the grove of things. I'm already working on the next chapter, look forward to it.  
Reviews are appreciated.


	16. Conflicts of Interest part 2

Chapter 16

Conflicts of Interest (part 2)

Raven had to rescind her previous observation that the hallway was free of infestation. After departing their overlook of the hanger, she immediately noticed that many paces south of her, there were six legged objects moving sporadically over the walls and ceiling. They had an uncanny resemblance to insects, closer to aphids, but these were as big as a medium sized dog. Even the legs, of which there were six, were as thick as a person's wrist. These unique creatures were most likely the result of some creator's natural affinity for mechanical engineering. They scuffled across the wall, magnets on their feet holding them up, appearing and disappearing though special circular flaps built into the walls several feet off the ground, and just big enough to allow them to pass through without scraping the sides.

Raven promptly sneezed at the sight and followed it up with an encore. She hadn't noticed it at first but there had been a cloud of smoke hanging overhead. It now filled their nostrils with a burnt acrid smell, but there was another antagonist that was equally as intrusive. Raven and the others were becoming intimately aware that the floor was hidden beneath a thick layer of dust. Any footstep above a tiptoe sent a generous portion of powdery white particles up filling the space around them, tickling their nostrils. When mixed with the smoke it had itself a little party in their heads anon everyone was sneezing in uncontrollable fits of convulsing misery. They were forced to use their shirts as improvised masks which didn't help very much against the filth that had already crossed over.

Thick layers of the stuff covered the entirety of the deck from where they stood all the way down the corridor before coming to a sudden halt. A couple inches of silvery shiny floor separated the powder from where the unrelenting artificial aphids were busy at work.

These peculiar variety of aphids were also gifted with hatches in their sides, installed next to their heads, where two pairs of arms could be deployed. These two extra pairs of limbs, unlike the six motorized legs, made obvious the aphids purpose as a maintenance and general utility bot. One pair was an amalgam of tools, like it had an industrial strength Swiss army knife attached to each, for a multitude of various tasks from welding, to screwdrivers, and even cleaning. The other, smaller pair, were reserved for the most delicate of tasks. Small and fragile, the 'fingers' on these sensitive appendages were perfect for working with minute apparatuses, like circuit boards and model kits.

At a partition, right at the instance the hallway made a sharp right turn, was where the highest concentration of bugs worked. The acrid smoke originated a natural byproduct of a fountain of red hot embers falling like a waterfall from where the aphids were eating into the wall. They appeared concerned with the timely extraction and repair of several panels and paid no heed to the presence of the three newcomers. They moved so fast and in such a dense configuration Raven couldn't make out what drove them into such frenzy. As she watched, several aphids broke from the main group, carrying with them a large, newly cut, piece of the wall. She could clearly see several large holes marking the otherwise smooth surface. She guessed it might be due to damage from a large caliber gun judging from the large and uniformly sized holes and grooves.

There was only one way to go, forward, so Raven took the lead grateful to be liberated from the sight of Mad Mod's rear. The surging river of molten cinders ceased flowing as Raven approached the turn, the aphids having momentarily paused in their duty. The three of them turned at the corner and continued on. To her dismay she found hundreds of bullet holes decorating the wall in random liner patterns as if someone had completely sprayed the hall with gunfire without meaning or concern.

Raven wondered as to what exactly had transpired in this hall and why it had been abandoned for so long afterward. It seemed especially odd, given the level of dust buildup. The war was only a mere year old, yet the almost obscene level of gritty upsurge suggested it hadn't been in use for possibly as much as a decade or more. The Aphids were fixing it up now but that was clearly only a recent effort. So recent in fact that she had, in all probability, just emerged out of Mad Mod's car when the refurbishing had commenced.

"What a coincidence." She thought with sarcasm and might've even believed it except that she never trusted coincidences, or maybe she was just becoming paranoid and was reaching to find conspiracies within the activities around her, even if they were fairly mundane. Though could she really blame herself? If half of what Mad Mod was hinting at was true then there was a real possibility that Fixit wasn't a mere sidelines spectator or reluctant leader, but a practiced puppet-master.

They were nearly at their destination. She'd been so eager to talk with Fixit, now found herself wishing she could delay it further to allow more time to deduce the pieces to this puzzle; a mystery she'd been working on ever since that day she'd been saved by her long dead brother. She was lacking many of the important pieces, but conventional wisdom dictated that she had to start somewhere. This brought her to Alexis, the young girl who had delivered both Raven and Beast boy into the hands of Mad Mod, and ultimately Fixit.

Alexis was, apart from Beast Boy, the only other living compatriot Raven had any respect for. Alexis had proven herself to be strong, independent, and intelligent. She was a survivor, the author of her own destiny. Feeling a wave of envy squeeze at her stomach, she instantly recognized that she was very jealous. Yet despite this feeling of admiration, she question begged to be asked; had Alexis been aware of the scale of mistrust and the hidden conflicts of interest between her supposed allies? If she had known, then it had been a good idea for her to go solo. If this was true, then why hadn't Alexis warned them about it? It was unfathomable that, without hesitation, she had risked her life to save them from a malignant oppressor only to freely surrender to an untrustworthy ally. Raven was getting the impression that Alexis wasn't the free floating radical that Raven had been lead to believe.

There was some semblance of good that had come from following the path Alexis had orchestrated. Raven had unexpectedly been reunited with Beast Boy, an event of which she was grateful. Raven enjoyed teasing him and generally making him the target of her sarcastic remarks, knowing how easy he made it. She relied on him far more than she'd be willing, had come to in depend on him, not just for protection, but simply for his company. Just sensing he was nearby put her eased her heart and gave her hope that she would see everyone again.

The sudden whoop of a klaxon alarm pulsated down the hall it came from no visible source and yet everywhere at once, visibly jolting Raven from her musings and back into full consciousness. The sharp vibrations jump kicked her heart into overdrive as her senses awakened. The noise was quick and short lived leaving behind it three provoked listeners. Their eyes glided over the near featureless walls, scanning for the source. In the time it took to blink their eyes a modest portion of the ceiling slid back revealing a secret area hidden behind it. The sliding panel made only the slightest of clicking sounds before it ejected from its yawning maw a piece of machinery, spray painted black, that appeared to be folded in upon itself in a rectangular shape.

No one was offered a chance to question this unforeseen arrival before it began the rapid and precise task of unfolding itself. The neck of the device extending into the ceiling and was composed of several joints to allow 360 degrees of movement and elevation. Connected to this was a head made of a camera, a red light shining from its focusing lens. Yet it what was underneath that was the most recognizable and horrific addition to the contraption. Everyone immediately knew what it was.

"Look Out! It's a gun!" Beast Boy shouted in horror. Less than a handful of seconds had passed since the alarm had broken the silence, now they were all scrambling backwards, desperate to find shelter from the inevitable hail of fire. The turret scanned the retreating targets, briefly considering which individual concerned it the most, and arrived automatically on the decision that Raven was the greater threat and to be ended first.

Raven raised her arms in futile defense as the gun locked in, its solitary red eye was single-mind, focused on her annihilation. . The weapon made a humming sound, to Raven it sounded like it was singing her death. She closed her eyes, waiting for the end to come. There was a gut wrenching click of a hammer and then…

Nothing, followed by another click-click, and then another.

Nothing else had happened, so Raven hoped it was safe to gingerly opened one eye. The camera was still interrogating her with its red light, shining directly into her face, the gun barrel still pointing at her while the clicks of the internal mechanism refused to acknowledge its useless efforts.

A collective three-way sigh of relief signaled the danger had passed. The gun was either jammed or had long ago spent its ammunition. Judging from the surrounding destruction, the latter seemed more plausible. Not taking any risks, however, Beast Boy employed his changeling power to take the shape of a large green gorilla. Fists pounding his chest, he let out a howl of primal ferocity before unceremoniously ripping the entirety of the turret from its hinges. There was a shower of electrical sparks as metal tore in a shriek of protest. The current severed, the light faded from the weapon and the repetitive tapping with it as well.

The source of all the surrounding destruction had been identified and silenced, all within a matter of a few moments. The caliber of the gun barrel matched the size of the bullet impacts uncomfortably so. Beast Boy dropped the weapon to the floor before returning to his normal self.

"That was totally un-cool. Give us some warning next time!"

"Ah, well…That bloody fool of a waste bin was supposed to hav' fixed those wretched things." Mod stuttered in his defense, shrugging his shoulders in confusion.

"It would be a good idea to make certain of that, BEFORE it kills you without warning. It's a good thing he had the foresight to have removed the bullets" Raven wondered how many times she'd gotten angry at Mod today. The immediate danger dismantled Raven allowed several deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself from yet another close call. She felt like she was playing Russian roulette with Mod. Just by being around him required another pull of the trigger. Eventually all it would earn her, literally and metaphorically, would be a case of self-inflicted brain surgery and her head was a strict lobotomy free area.

"No sense in worrying about it now." Mod dismissed it with a wave of his cane, he didn't seem all that troubled by what had just occurred.

"No sense, is exactly your problem. Just…gahr" Raven groaned sick and tired of Mod's hazardous company. She just wanted an end to her tenure with the insufferable Brit as soon as inhumanly possible. "Just lead the way; the sooner we get there the happier we'll all be. And just so you know I would've rather taken my chances back in Jump city; alien invaders and sadistic guards notwithstanding."

"Ah now you don't really mean to say that. I've done you a great favor in bringing you before his majesty. Show some respect to your betters, me duckie."

"I'm not your duckie, and the only thing your better at is your idiocy for nearly getting us killed." Raven was almost screaming now, face red with anger. She'd never felt so furious with the man before. "This setup is your doing, I'm sure of it"

Beast boy agreed with Raven. "Yeah dude, you're a total nutcase. You should go back home to your tea and crumpets."

Mod smiled sardonically, enjoying the rise he was getting out of them, Raven especially. "So there is a fire lass behind that pale skin of yours."

Raven became flushed and bit her tongue to avoid spewing nuclear fallout "I don't need your sycophancy; I have no want of an ally that is far less reliable than my enemies."

"Ah now you've wounded me heart. How could you even suspect such a thing of good ol' Moddie." The smile never faded even while he pretended Raven had plunged a sword though his chest.

"If the glove fits…" She didn't have any evidence, but her feelings told her Mod wasn't above hiding insidious weapons inside placid objects. "Your life's only purpose is to confuse and mislead others. I remember those statues with the guns put inside; this whole setup has your signature as well."

"Ah…" Mod inhaled with delight, "blissful nostalgia. But I am not the Pied Piper that lead you into the river."

"That's like saying Beast Boy is intelligent, I don't believe it."

"You should take a butchers." Mod's cane highlighted the limp weapon. Crouching beside it the first thing Raven observed on the weapon was a clear outline of a large hand print from where BB had grabbed it. The rest of the surface was covered with a familiar coat of dust and white grime, amazing that the thing could still move with all the filth that clogged the joints. It was apparent that the weapon was just as old as the rest of their surroundings. This did nothing to abide her suspicions however.

"Enough of this tot we are close to the throne." Mod urged them on.

Raven hesitated, looking up from her crouched postion, "No more traps?"

"On my honor as a Yeomen of the Guard." Mod gave them a contemptuous salute while standing at attention.

There was a great need she felt, a deep temptation to leave turn around and run as far away as possible but the fear of getting lost and worse caught by hunters was stronger, Mod be damned. Raven slowly nodded her head, so furious that she had temporarily forgotten how to speak. Was she more angered at Mod for his irrepressible behavior or herself or going along with it?

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Raven wasn't one for unnecessary violence but was willing to make an exception in Mod's case. There were other things that pined for her attention, all too soon her attention receded inward to once address the concerns of her more somber thoughts.

It had the undeniably maddening feeling of being stuck between a rock and a hard place, to give her feelings context. There really was no point in trying to indulge herself with delusions of grandeur. She was a grain of sand blown by the wind along a path of least resistance. She was powerless and vulnerable and until now, like an emotional fool, had simply followed the others with out even trying to realize what she was getting into. Now with Cyborg in Fixits hands, they had a source of leverage to use against her.

The pain of regret shot like lighting as a sudden torrent of memories filled her mind so suddenly she visibly shook with distress. Visions of Cyborg arose to taunt her as if to blame her for not being there when he needed them. She didn't want to think of him, it hurt to know. Another wound piled atop so many. The sight of him, his body broken and stripped, his mind trapped in a cage reduced to the basest of impulses. Was there even enough left of him to save? Maybe death was the most merciful way.

Then what about Robin, Knives, and even Starfire? Had they too suffered such a fate? The idea conjured grotesque images of shadows surrounding her friends subverting their will and cutting into their bodies, making them limbless torsos, mutilated beyond recognition, forced to serve as living weapons. She forced such thoughts away, rubbing the beginnings of tears from her eyes. She looked to see if anyone had noticed.

She had to say on top of things, keeping her eyes and ears open were her only options, the means to remain ready for anything that could transpire. Not so much as an ounce of reliable truth had been offered to her by any companion she'd encountered so far, Mod was especially guilty. There were secrets being tossed over her head and purposely hidden from her sight, yet no one was willing to start explaining themselves. For all of her contemplation, her only course of action was dependant on that someone possessed the wisdom to start talking soon.

She cursed internally for giving up to emotion and damned the short-sightedness that had lead into this bear trap. She should've thought things through more logically, meditated on them for a time. Unraveling this unfortunate series of events was beyond her meager power now. It wasn't too late, however, patience and courage were her best tools now in what had become a waiting game to observe how her opponents played the first move. With a bit of luck they would make a mistake, an opportunity to maneuver into a better position to deal with them on her terms.

Still it didn't change the fact that Fixit was pulling strings. Was it to ensure her loyalty as a docile servant to his cause? Or maybe she was nothing more than a tool to use against the invaders, an item to barter even.

Perhaps…

Thought she found herself doubting that he even had the survival of human life listed amongst his priorities. She still found herself intrigued by the possibilities of what Fixit had over Mad Mod. What kind of dirt would it take to tame the hot-headed British firecracker into a willing servant?

But on the other hand, she reminded herself, it could be Mad Mod that was trying to turn her to his side by playing with her sense of reality and preying on her insecurities. After all, hypnotism was his area of expertise as he'd most vibrantly demonstrated twice before.

Raven found herself yearning for the simpler times, when she could kick his butt with impunity and then shove him into a dank cell far away from civilized humans.

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Raven's thoughts occupied her all the way to the end. So immersed he nearly collided with Mad Mod when he'd come to a halt. They'd arrived at a large and thick bulkhead that would be more fitting for a bank vault. Atop the safe, firmly affixed to the wall, was a mini security camera swinging back and forth in wide lazy arcs. Whenever it passed over them a bright flash would indicate it was taking snapshots as it went.

An amazingly unimpressed synthesized voice was emitted from a "Welcome back subject Neil Richards." Mod nodded head in agreement.

"Neil Richards? You mean 'you' have a 'real' name?" Beast Boy's eyes were filled with chronic amusement. "I guess those tabloids can be right sometimes."

Mod responded with an insulting frown and an acerbic taunting shake of his head.

"Unknown Entity A, gender female, has been identified as Teen Titan code name 003 - The Raven. Addendum: Alert, subject the Raven survival marked as top priority."

Raven recalled the encounter, mere minutes ago, that the ceiling gun had targeted her first. Raven was not surprised. "That figures."

The synthetic voice continued, "Unknown Entity B, gender male, identified as Teen Titan code name 005 - The Beast Boy. Addendum: Subject survival marked as expendable."

"What!?" It was now Beast Boy's turn to become incensed on a personal level, "Say that to my face if you got the guts and I'll turn you into an oil stain beneath my foot! Geez! First I get hunted by some gangly shadow freak, chased by aliens, pursued by hunters, and then I had to crawl through tunnels of slimy cockroaches, nearly get shot, and now their insulting me on top of it all!" BB turned sharply to Raven, "What's so special about you anyway? First they try to kill you then declare you a national treasure."

Raven ran her fingers through her deep violet hair, feeling uncomfortable under his accusing stare, not sure how to answer that question. "That is odd isn't it?"

"User database files updated, welcome to Outpost Sigma." The voice continued unabated and with its final greeting the voice became silent but the sound of grinding gears soon followed. The massive vault door split down the middle and the two halves were now open outwards with an agonizing slowness.

Boy impatiently tapped his foot. "Can't this door open any faster?"

"You can try pulling on it if it makes you feel better." Raven was patient, which in turn made Beast Boy all the more annoyed.

"Cheeky bastard." Mod called on Raven, acting as if he was talking no one in particular.

In due time the door opened just enough for the three of them to squeeze past the door prematurely. They had finally arrived at the heart of one of the final havens for humanity on this weary planet. To Raven it was a place that no human could ever survive. It was difficult to see inside the cramped room, the only source of light being sparingly supplied by an impressive array of computer and TV monitors.

"Welcome young Raven." A smooth emotionless voice came from the depths. At first the voice seemed to emerge from what appeared to be two point of artificial pale light, smaller than the monitors, but suspended in space, slowly moving towards her. In their approach the gloom began to lift like a curtain and she could distinguishing a shape surrounding the points of light. It had something like a head attached to shoulders perched atop of body similar to a human but was far more cold.

"Fixit."

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	17. Conflicts of Interest Final

Trigon Apotheosis

Chapter 17 Conflicts of Interest (Final)

She strained to make out Fixit's intimidating figure; rigidly situated, as it was, in a thin bubble of pale electric light, the byproduct of so many barley functioning electric screens. It impressed upon her that, at any moment, the encroaching darkness would overpower the sanctity of illumination and collapse in on them.

Raven was not unaccustomed to solemn dark places; under different circumstances she might've even found this place somewhat likable in a nerdy kind of way. All it reminded her of now was how much she felt a longing desire to return to the private sanctity of her room back at the tower. Here she was the new kid in the neighborhood, in an unfamiliar room, stuck with two tyrants who possibly had interests in taking advantage of her situation. No wonder it felt so desolate in here like the world was quickly coming down on her.

Fixit towered over her like a mountain dwarfs a valley, in reality it capped at about two feet, but this minor detail didn't help her mood any. He had a thin streamlined build and garbed in a robe of dull gray and woven from unknown fabrics. He seemed almost regal and could easily, at a distance or in unfavorable light, be mistaken for something human. Yet it was the glow from his eyes, bright and featureless, and the dancing shine off his smooth 'skin' that betrayed his true nature in this environment of no sunlight. He was wholly machine, every aspect of his nature was cold and artificial and, whether he intended or not, was an intimidating presence. Similarly it seemed like a purposeful mockery for him to be wearing clothes of any sort; there was no useful function in emulating human characteristics anyway. Maybe it was built in as an inseparable part of him but as to what kind of utility they'd serve she couldn't reason other than maybe to distinguish him apart from the myriad amounts of machines he had created and maintained under his authoritarian employment.

His long narrow faced tilted down to look at her. She refused to wither under his gaze even if did make her feel as a child under the scornful deliberation of their parent. She consciously responded by tensing her body like a rod standing as straight as physically possible even lifting her head slightly to maximize every possible inch of height. Never before in her life had she so wished to be taller.

"Fixit," Raven met him, stare for stare, wondering if it was his true name. She found it highly doubtful that it was but it was hard to say for sure why she felt so inclined to belive otherwise.

"It is good to see you again." Fixit spoke in synthesized monotone voice that contradicted an otherwise pleasant attempt at a greeting. Raven did not share the mutual feeling.

"I apologize for the careless manner in which you've been treated," he continued without pausing. If Fixit had pupils, Raven felt they should be locking their missiles in on Mad Mod right now. Mod apparently felt the same way, fidgeting uncomfortably under the phantom insult. Even so, Fixit continued his relentless focus on Raven to the exclusion of everything else, she found is very creepy and wondered why she deserved such .

Before Fixit could say anything further she had to take initiative, "Where is Cyborg?" Raven demanded her expression failing to hide the fierce desire to know the truth.

Fixit paused before adding, "He is someplace safe where he can do no harm and where no harm can come to him."

"Told ya," Mad Mod instilled

"You knew he was going to say that." Raven accused, it was a statement not a question.

"That's what we agreed upon. Yes, I did know he was going to say that." Mod said matter of fact.

"Wouldn't tell you either?" Beast boy said with surprising sharpness. Mod's shoulders visibly stiffened, only for a moment, but enough to prove that BB had gotten around his game.

Raven knew Beast Boy had the right idea. If Mod had been privy to such knowledge he would have taken more pleasure in taunting them about it by feigning ignorance while taking the time to remind them of his superiority in a 'more-holier-than-thou' speech that would make even the Pope look astoundingly Amish, to remind them he didn't have to tell underlings anything. But now there were no speeches, no mule attitude, no metaphors, or manipulative games. All he managed to choke out was a straight, somber, and simple answer that he's probably been ordered to say.

"What the hell?" she thought, massaging her head in replete annoyance. There would have been little comfort in the notion that Mod at least had an inkling about what he was talking of. It was as obvious as the missing amethyst on Raven's forehead that Mod was being kept out of the loop, out of the circle of trust. How could she have expected anything more from a former, very untrustworthy, and irrepressibly psycho, criminal. Maybe she'd get lucky and he'd spontaneously combust. If she could find some gas and a match it would be more than just luck.

Mod just looked in the other direction. His sour disposition mirrored Raven's own.

"Do not waste time on trifling arguments." Fixit interrupted the interruption, "We have much to discuss. Show no concern with the one called Cyborg. He is inert and is currently undergoing repairs to such an extent as we can provide."

Realizing she wasn't going to get a straight answer right away, Raven relinquished the matter for the time being, but she would get an answer out before she left; even if she had to unscrew Fixit's ahead and apply electro-shock to his nuts and bolts.

"First you must be…hungry." The word sounded like a foreign language when he said it. Without any visible prompt a small mechanical 'thing' came limping out of the shadows just behind him. The thing, as it turned out, had the crudest construction, somehow makeing it a crime to even exist. Its was humanoid in shape but had a head that might've once been a toaster, a body that could've been a stereo propped on its side and connected to limbs that were of different lengths and made of jumbles of wires, gears, and rods. In its hands it, unsteadily, presented them a tray of four sandwiches and two glasses of water.

Raven was unsure of the sincerity in Fixit's newly installed sense of generous hospitality, the robotic waiter did not further his case either. The sight of the food, however, was more a low blow to her stomach igniting a series of deep grumbling noise in her stomach. Her face glowed with embarrassment; she hoped the others hadn't noticed. She hadn't eaten anything all day it didn't take long for the fortress of caution to come tumbling down at the incessant nagging of hunger. She carefully accepted the food and drink, fearful that the slightest touch would cause the waiter to tip over or fall apart in a puff of smoke. She was careful not to show it but for as hesitant as she was accepting it, she was all that more eager to ravenously consume it.

"Please eat and listen." Fixit instructed.

Raven took a bite; to her surprise her mouth was treated to the delightful and juicy taste of fresh mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomato stacked atop sliced ham. Fixit might've been trying to appease her mistrust but the quality of food made her all the more suspicious. Even the water was clear and free of contaminants; in comparison to the meager meal offered earlier this sandwich might as well have been served on fine china at a five-star restaurant. She wondered if he'd had the good sense to give BB a vegetarian only allotment, but judging from the speed BB was choking down the sandwich he probably didn't care if he was eating meat.

"So what's is this thing that's sooo deliciously important you drag us all the way out here?" BB said inbetween bites, quickly finishing the first sandwich in record time and grabbing his second portion.

"I am not your enemy, but neither can I be considered a friend." Fixit began, "My chosen operation protocols concern this place and everything individual contained within its borders, organic or machine. Your very presence threatens to draw our enemy to this hidden place and that is something I simply can not allow to transpire."

"Then why bring us here? More important, why ARE you helping us at all?" Raven wiped a speck of mayonnaise from her mouth. She leaned in anxious for his answer.

"There are set parameters that have been mutually primed in the past and that I have yet executed to their terms."

Raven sat expressionless while her brain tried to decode the previous statement. "You mean you have promises to keep." She said slowly in fear she might quickly loose track of the conversation.

"Yes." Fixit nodded, "mission critical components have arisen and no longer can be ignored, namely you, Raven."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Raven felt her stomach take a sudden inexplicable dive, her newfound popularity was very disconcerting, nauseous even. She lost her appetite immediately. Somehow picking up on this the tiny robot retreated back into the shadows that had spawned it.

"Weren't you gonna eat that?" BB inquired. Raven shook her head in response; did he even care about what was going on? Obviously not, since the sandwich seemed far more important. Hell, he was probably content with not being the center of attention seeing as it would require too much brainpower on his part to keep up. She swore, if she ended up explaining it to him later she'd hit him.

"What does this all have to do with me?" Raven asked. BB wasn't the problem here; she was

"You have acquired data concerning the biological engine you disabled?" Fixit was referring to the alien gunship.

"Of a fashion," she wondered how he'd figured that out. Probably Gizmo or Mod told him about her near death encounter.

"What did you see?"

Was it just her imagination or did she actually perceive a hint of eager anticipation in Fixit's last question?

"I…" It was as if her tongue had swollen in her mouth. She hadn't given much deep thought to it since it had happened. But now she was filled with images of the sinewy weapon, the last few seconds of the battle replayed itself over and over again.

That time, when it had stood above her, ready to massacre her against the concrete, she felt certain she was going to die then and there. Being a Titan was never an easy job. Always filled with danger and uncertainty; she had never entertained thoughts of it being otherwise and predictably had had many instances of close courtships with death. This last time had been different.

She averted her eyes from Fixit, unable to muster the dignity to look him in the face anymore. When she had touched that creature, that unnatural union of flesh and machine, it had changed all the rules. How could she explain all this to the dispassionate Fixit, what account would she give to Beast Boy or even Mad Mod?

Raven took a deep breath, she wasn't ready to tell them all this. "I…" she tried again, still at a failure of what to actually say.

"Come on. Spit it out lass." Mad Mod prodded. Raven just shot him a dirty look, his impatient probing was not helping to allay her self-conscious doubt.

"They were made by my father," Raven finally forced the words out. She held her head limp, making it hard to see what reaction the others were having. "They are a part of him, a constant of the same dark powers, and by association they are a part of me as well."

She paused for a moment to collect herself, no one else said anything, she wasn't sure if they were stunned beyond words or simply waiting for her to continue.

"I felt that it was Cyborg who had stopped the machine. But when I touched it, I could sense a shared relation with it. Please don't ask me to explain it, I'm not sure myself. I just know that we both originate from my father.

"Rae," BB was horrified at what he was hearing, it made no sense. This wasn't the Raven he knew! "Listen to what your saying. You…you look nothing like those foul insects."

Raven reassured BB with a delicate smile; it did help easer her fear hearing him say that, yet…

"It's not a so much a physical resemblance, but more…spiritual in nature." Raven shook her head, "I'm just as appalled by it as you should be, but it brings up question I don't want answers to."

"It is as I have calculated. I also estimate that those answers will be necessary if we are to understand the nature of our foe." Fixit hadn't budged an inch since the conversation started. That made it all the more surprising when he put a hand on Raven's shoulder. Was he trying to comfort her? She looked back into his lifeless face and still could perceive no emotion at all. She rejected his gesture and forcefully pushed his hand off.

Her discourteous rebuff had no visible effect on him, but it left them all in an awkward silence.

She wanted a desperate change of topics, it was the previous mentioning of their 'foe' that pushed the conversation ahead to the next logical avenue "What about these spiders I've been told about? The ones that invaded and were suppose to be the creators of such vile contraptions? I have yet to see one."

"On the contrary, data entries in the Titan Tower mainframe show you have indeed fought one in the past. 

"Hold it! What do you mean by the Tower mainframe?" Raven felt a resurgence of her suspicions.

"Exactly 12 hours, 3 minutes, and 45 seconds after your displacement from this dimension, I permitted myself right of entry to the Tower mainframe and engaged in the organization, accumulation, and examination of all data for future application. In addition the safeguarding of proprietary and sensitive data from enemy utilization to locate and identify suitable subjects as central weapon cores necessitated the formatting of all databases and the subsequent purging of all peripheral records as well."

"Could you say it again in English?" BB was fervently scratching his head in confusion.

"He's saying that he broke into you precious Tower, copies all the computer files, erased the hard drives and destroyed any books or journals that contained personal information." Mad Mod spat in elucidation. "So that people like us," Mod poked himself in the chest and then indicated BB and Raven with an accusing finger, "would be harder to track down."

"If our enemy was an Earth evolved species, their low population numbers would necessitate an entry on an endangered species list. In order to replenish their numbers they are dependant, overpoweringly, superior organic components to control their combat vehicles." Fixit elaborated further

"In other words they want to use humans who can demonstrate superior abilities or mental disciplines for their ships," and Mod added for clarity.

"They accomplish this by utilizing methods of indoctrination perfected by Trigon and implemented in ships of his own creation using the same black magic that you possess, Raven. With Trigon removed, thanks to your efforts, they have no way to replenish their stockpiles of machines. That is why you are so important to them."

"But I've lost the use of my powers!" Raven protested in a little desperation, but she knew it was a loosing argument and would make no difference. So instead she asked, "Who are they anyway and what do they get out of this deal with my father?"

"I do not know what their agreement with Trigon is or of their ultimate purpose on this planet, but as to their identity I am knowledgeable of that. Are you familiar with the species named Cironielian. Also known as the Chrysalis Eaters?"

"Doesn't sound familiar." What did this have to do with the tower's database?

"On rare conditions a Tamaranean during their period of rapid biological maturity will temporarily inherit the traits of a chrysalis, not unlike a butterfly's cocoon. Some are unfortunate and do not survive due to the interference of the Cironielian Chrysalis Eaters.

Fixit need not go any further Raven already understood where this conversation was inexorably headed. Some time ago, it was hard to exactly when for sure, Starfire had been complaining of a series of strange changes to her body, much like how a human goes through puberty, but far more bizarre; scaly skin, strange growths, altered body chemistry, things like that.

It was very hard for Starfire to appear as anything else but a naïve human being, but this had been the biggest demonstration of exactly how alien she was indeed. Those sudden alterations in her body had frightened her into believing she'd be rejected by everyone closest to her. It was all a misunderstanding of course, but she'd been too afraid to talk about it and everyone had been too busy with their own problems to notice. Rather than suffer falling out of favor with the Titans, Star fled the Tower to seek a self imposed exile on some distant planet.

When the Titans had finally grown wise to the problem and caught up with Star they arrived just in time to stop her from being eaten alive by a creature far more alien then Star had ever seemed, even at the height of her transformation. The creature they fought had the combination of a humanoid torso, with multiple compound eyes and craws for hands, attached at the waist to a terrestrial spider body the size of a horse.

The realization went of like a gunshot in her head. The spider that had invaded the Earth were of the same race to the one that had nearly killed Starfire. It seemed all so obvious now, how had she managed to dodge such a revelation?

"Shut up!" Beast Boy shouted in disbelief. "You mean the same freaky alien thing that nearly ate Starfire like a tofu hotdog?"

Raven felt she already know the answer to her next question, but asked it anyway, "Why have we not seen a single one yet?"

To which Fixit replied almost predictably, "The odds of encountering this rare species are statistically insignificant unless you understand where to look. They also possess the genetic disposition to emulate complete humanoid structures.

It was that same shape-shifting ability that nearly cost Starfire her life.

Beast Boy had been mostly quiet up to this point, when he suddenly spoke out.

"Rae.." he said.

"Mm?" Raven replied.

"Well." BB leaned in to whisper in her ear. "It's like this…"

Raven patiently waited to hear what he was saying. Whatever was on his mind sounded important.

"I have like no clue what's going on. Could you explain it all to me again."

Raven groaned audibly and instinctively reached out to punch BB in the head, not hard enough to damage him, but to remind him he was an idiot. He yelped in pain, but it was more from surprise than anguish, rubbing the afflicted spot while giving Raven an expression of a pouting three year old.

"One thing I don't understand." Raven turned back to Fixit.

"One thing?" BB posed.

"A lot of what you've told me you could have gotten from the Tower computers, but not everything." Raven reasoned, "Not a day after we went were declared dead, you go in, get what you wanted, and destroyed the rest to prevent the aliens from using it."

"That was the primary function, yes." Fixit said.

"That means you knew they were coming and that their first target might be the Tower."

"Yes."

"You knew, who they were, that they worked for my father, and what their technology was based on so you could take preventive measures against them. You must've known all this in advance and that's why you sabotaged the Tower mainframe, you knew how best to hurt them."

"Your suspicions are correct."

Raven was shocked. She didn't think Fixit had the capacity to lie, but if true then the timing was too good to be mere coincidence. Fixit discovered that aliens were going to invade the Earth before anyone else had and even knew ahead of time what their technology was

"Your reaction suggests that you were not made aware of this possibility. That is most perplexing" Fixit turned away from the group

"How was I supposed to know something like that?" How could she have known, there had been no signs of it, no unidentified signals on the radar, no intercepted communications, no declarations of war, or even psychic premonitions.

Fixit moved his arm in a single broad arc across the darkness, in doing so a large monitor lit up above them. Permanently fixed to the wall this particular LCD panel, as wide as Raven was tall, was rapidly shifting between all manners of pictures. Some were of the Titans doing mundane things like eating out at the once local pizza parlor, some were of them playing sports. Raven realized that the pictures were flashing by in chronological order, starting from three years ago and working towards the present. Finally, along came more recent records. The meeting with Knives, the battle with Money Magnet, and finally the encounter at the Jump City harbor.

Then an image of Starfire materialized and froze up on screen. The monitor now displaying this one image only and Fixit seemed to regard it with deep interest. Raven did too, what was so special about this one image of Star? Suddenly the imaged zoomed in on one of Star's hands, she was holding something. It was long and silvery, looked to be a messengers tube with a majestic symbol engraved into its side.

Raven easily recognized it as the Tameranian royal seal.

"Your implying that Starfire had been warned by her own people what was coming? She would have told us." Raven was torn between rampant disbelief and grave astonishment.

"I have calculated such possibilities as exponentially high. The Tameranian and Cironielian species both evolved on the same planet and have been engaged in an undeclared and perpetual state of war for most of their recorded history, as the data suggests, both species have single-mindedly sought for the complete genocide of the other. The exact message transcribed for Starfire is largely unknown it would be a good idea to find out what it, indeed, communicated. In addition I estimate that the Starfire would have invaluable knowledge on how to best combat our enemy."

Raven was stumped, how did Fixit know all that? For a machine programmed in the inflexible language of logic and binary code, he seemed to be making rather large leaps in his judgment of the situation. A genocidal war between two species from the same home world, Raven couldn't attribute such an appalling situation to Starfire. Raven couldn't blame Star for not coming forward with such information but it didn't change the fact that she would need to give Star a long talk to. That is if she knew where Star was.

"I agree," Raven said, "but we won't get far without knowing where Star is."

"If that were the case, I do know where the Starfire is located."

Once more, Fixit waved his hand past the ceiling mounted display. The image of Starfire dissolved from the screen and was replaced by a wireframe representation of Northern America. Initially the screen was crowded with all sort of symbols in a giant mosaic of colored vectors representing all manner of things across the continent map. Raven didn't have the faintest idea what they all stood for. It didn't matter much for as soon as they had appeared the next moment most of them were missing. All that remained was a single white dot in southern California and several red lines surrounding a single purple dot, in a U formation, in Northern Canada.

"As you may as deduced," Fixit explained, "the point of white light represents our current location. The point of purple light is where we believe the Starfire's current location is."

"What about the red lines?" BB got off the question before Raven.

"Those are representative of enemy units that are at this moment in pursuit of the Starfire," As Fixit spoke, the red lines disappeared and the purple dot suddenly relocated in Idaho. As Raven watched, the purple dot zigzagged to the east a bit before a line appeared forcing the dot to take sharp turn north, past the Canadian border. As it moved red lines began forming out of nowhere, slowly surrounding the dot in a chokehold. Raven easily deducted from this simple light show, a rather grim scenario.

"They are trying to force her back against the frozen tundra, hoping she'll either freeze, starve, or surrender." She said.

"Correct. This is all compiled from recon reports, and the occasional satellite imagery But I have calculated a 97.35 percent probability that this is her current location and trajectory." A blue arrow pointing north east appeared over the dot to emphasize Fixit's statement.

"So what are we going to do?" Beast Boy raised his voice to near shouting, "We need to move now and help her."

"You are very observant, my duckie." Mad Mod spoke, forcing Raven to once again acknowledge his prescience. "Cause that is exactly what you are going to do."


	18. Transformation

**Trigon Apotheosis **

**Chapter 18 (Transformation) **

Raven bit her tongue, she felt insulted and belittled. It was extraordinarily redundant to pass on orders to her and Beast Boy that they had to rescue Starfire. Recommendations, subtle hints, or even an all-knowing wink and smile were unnecessary since both of them were mentally prepared, to jump into danger for each other and anyone else they cared for, and all without a word needing to be said.

Who the hell did Fixit and Mod think they were? Did they truly realize who they were talking to? This was a slight against her dignity, a stain on the name of the Teen Titans.

Raven gravely doubted that Fixit, and especially Mad Mod, had ever once in their life risked their well-being for people out of reasons of an ethical or moral principle or even out of compassionate nature. In Raven's eyes Fixit was all machine and stood for logic and mathematics above all else. She could think of him like a penny-pinching business man would only act if the benefits outweighed the expense and thus saving Starfire was both a short and long-term investment, one that he would want to yield positive benefits.

Mod on the other hand was a self-serving bastard who only had his desires in mind. The idea that these deviants suddenly found the appreciable foundation to go out of their way for Starfire's sake on simple ethical principle was a joke, and no one found it funny..

There was a flicker of electric power and the large monitor upon the wall shut off with a crackle. The wireframe map faded into obscurity, the act of which seemed to trigger a previously unseen door to quickly slide ajar. Fixit gracefully glided across the floor and exited into this new room with everyone, like mice entranced by the piper, involuntarily following in silent procession.

The lighting in the next room wasn't any better, halogen lamps with pitifully underpowered light bulbs were employed to highlight everything they could within their respective cone of light. They served their duty well enough in this smaller room but simply relying on starlight probably would yield better results. In here the ten or so paltry lamps were paired up and situated above an accompanying table. Surgery tables, no less, five of them neatly arranged in a half-circle with their proximity so close that the foot of each table touched its neighbors that allowed easy access to each one from a single stationary position.

"So this is where you took everything from the hospital," Raven said, and it was true.

There were trays of surgical tools, bulky MRI scanners, EEG monitors, EEC monitors, x-ray machines, life support equipment, and so forth. Aligning the walls, surrounding this medical mess, were numerous shelves and cabinets full of engineering tools, gizmos, spare parts, large spools of cables and wires, and even a healthy library of technical manuals and binders. The room was one single chaotic upheaval without any regards to aesthetics or hygiene.

This was only semblance of order in the cramped room, but they were also a source of revulsion and disgust. Each of the tables was covered and permanently stained with a dark viscous liquid. Raven assumed that it was just oil, or at least hoped it wasn't blood. The existence of several dilapidated carcasses of aphid bots laid out twisted and broken gave credence to the former idea.

Her senses also become aware that the most, if not all, the gadgets and gizmos placed in this chaotic storageroom had the same kind of stains and the room had the decidedly strong stench of motor oil. None of these appeasing signs did any good to silence the warnings and alarms ringing in her head; warning her it was a mistake to enter further. Maybe it was the subconscious revulsion that arose from being in close proximity to filthy medical tools. That she might contract some sort of rare disease that would eat all her skin or do something equally as horrible. Alternately it could be due to the very surreal and oppressive atmosphere, the kind extracted from and normally attributed to horror movies.

"This place is my primary workshop," Fixit announced anti-climatically. "This is where I make various robotic constructs; the units visible upon your arrival and other such constructs."

"This dump?" Beast boy was dubious and gave the room a second look over. "It looks worse than my room, and that's saying a lot."

"Yeah, hard to believe anything could look worse then that." Raven painted sarcastic, but she wasn't interested in a competition of who could sport the dirtiest sinkhole of depravity. Here was the proof that Fixit, indeed, was responsible for creating the aphid bots.

Oh sure, it might've seemed obvious that they were his right from the get go, but prior experience when witness to Fixit's handy work told her that enough to off-handedly dismissed it as very crude, sloppy, and haphazard.

Take the little waiter bot for example; the same one that had served them sandwiches moments ago. It had all the symptoms of being a rushed construction thrown together from scraps on hand. It was barely functional and unappealing to behold; further evidence of a process that was an ostensibly random selection of marginally functional parts and cannibalizing them to form an amateurish automaton.

This was not the case with the aphids robots; they were streamlined and efficient, sporting multiple functions and tools, and able to operate independently across a wide range of tasks. The obvious skill and attention was why she'd had trouble giving him credit before. The moniker Fixit was for his skills in repairing and not so much for building. The Aphids were the antithesis to what Raven had come to expect of one of Fixit's own creations. Well, he had had time and many reasons why to perfect his craft after all.

Predictably she didn't voice any of this to the stoic Fixit..

"Time is critical," Fixit said, "It is necessary that you prepare for your task immediately without further pointless delay or distraction."

Fixit brusquely brushed aside an Aphid carcass from the closest table, it crashed to the ground like a broken household appliance. "But first we must render your distinguishing characteristics invisible to enemy eyes." He turned to Raven and beckoning her to sit atop the newly vacant surgery table. She looked at him as if he'd suddenly gone computer senile.

"What are you going to do?" Raven said with hesitation. Anxiety bubbled, the painful bruise on her midsection took on new life as she recalled the last time she'd let anyone try and help her to blend in.

Responding to Raven's visible discomfort Fixit quickly added "You will feel no discomfort nor come to harm in any way."

"Couldn't you give Raven a cool disguise like mine?" Beast Boy said.

"Raven's requirements do not justify the expenditure of a full body hologram suit as you do. A simple adjustment of her hair and eye color will fulfill the purpose more economically."

"What if I refuse?" Raven stood defiantly.

"You are free to do so, but I will warn you that the consequences of such a course of action will be most severe."

"Don't be such a stubborn hothead, lass. You should know when to open up and take your medicine. It is for your own good."

"That's a fine line coming from you." Raven sneered.

Fixit again tried to calm Raven's uncertainties by dictating an info dump of an explanation about the particulars of the process which would, in so many words, be simple, quick, and would not require extensive medical procedures or radical physical alterations.

It involved an in depth lecture on the nature of the eye's _tunica vasculosa ocul_ layer and how to alter its pigmentation through the shifting of the ratios of eumelanin produced by melanocytes in the iris. Pigmentation in the dead cells of hair could be changed by similar means of removing the presence of eumelanin and pheomelanin and how it could be done without causing irreversible rapid hair loss. It was a very dry, long winded explanation that was not a hair less complicated then it needed to be; no pun intended for sure. In this mission it had failed in alleviate her concerns so much as to make her horribly confused and it sent Beast Boy's brain boiling. Mad Mod acted as if he'd heard it all before; giving the task of cleaning his fingernail his undivided attention.

"Is it too much to ask for you to repeat that in **English** this time?" BB had demanded.

Fatigue and a familiar sense of exasperation materialize themselves as a heavy sigh, Raven scratched her head in an active attempt to settle on a decision. Raven understood the basics of what Fixit was aiming to do and that it would require the services of a small nanomachine colony, of Fixit's own design, to be injected and employed in Raven's transformation.

-Nanomachines-

The very idea of having microscopic machines crawling through her, changing things, gave her goose bumps. One in her system they could do anything Fixit wanted them to. She could refuse the proceedure, and no one could really blame her if she did, but she realized the validity of Fixit's argument.

"Trust me" He said.

"What?" Raven was stunned, to say the at what she'd heard. Confused she gave Fixit a glaring inspection; what an uncharacteristic thing for him to say.

"I have been monitoring elements of your body language, facial expressions, skin perspiration levels, and fluctuations in your physical temperature since you arrived and I can conclude that…"

"Alright, I get it!" shouted as she finally conceding the point, "I'll do it, but on three conditions."

"Name them." Fixit said.

"One, that you agree to remove these nanomachines the moment I say so or when the time comes that they are no longer necessary. Two, you will give us any supplies we request, and three," Raven pointed a finger at the fiery Brit, "I refused to let Mad Mod accompany us."

"What?!" Mod was alight with anger ready to explode all over Raven, "Insolent little pipsqueak…"

"Agreed," Fixit affirmed quickly and confidently, maybe a little too quickly, but at least it drowned out Mod's protests and spared everyone's ears.

"Oy, such rebellious attitudes are intolerable!" Mod clutched his cane so hard his knuckles turned white.

"Your assistance is no longer requested on this task; you have been retired. I will instruct you later in other tasks that could use attention."

"Be thankful his majesty speaks for you, my duckie. Otherwise I'd take you across my knee and whip some respect in to ya." Mod gave his cane a sharp swing for emphasis.

"Your sarcastic remarks are out of line."

"You've been owned Moddie. You should recognize your betters." BB taunted using his best British impression.

Mod was ready to erupt like a volcano but, through some inner discipline, stayed in control. He turned his back to them, refusing to even acknowledged their presence anymore.

"Now, we shall begin." Fixit said.

Raven watchfully approached the table in a similar fashion that one uses when faced with a sleeping dragon. It reeked heavily of oil and other hydraulic fluids, but was at least dry, if a bit gritty looking. Placing one hand on the side, ready to lift herself up, she suddenly felt very self-conscious.

"Do they really have to be here?"

Mod was not slow. He got the hint and proceeded to make a show of himself by stomping noisily off mumbling angrily to himself, not looking back, not giving then further consideration. Too bad the same couldn't be said about BB, who just stood there looking as if someone had said something funny.

"Why are you guys looking at me" How clueless could he get?

"Maybe because you have stupid written on your face." Maybe not literally, but he certainly had the expression of someone with no observable brain activity.

"Really?"

"Leave!" Raven barked.

"Geez, ok ok, you don't have to shout."

BB turned towards the exit, dragging his feet forlornly looking very much like the poor sap someone had rejected from the senior prom. He took one step over the threshold then turned to Raven one more time.

"Sure you'll be ok?" He regarded her with unusual gravity.

"I'll be fine." Raven nodded in assurance, her anger softening from before. She started to apologize for her outburst but it was too late to say more as the door soundlessly cut them off leaving her alone with the indifferent tinkerer.

Raven effortlessly hoisted herself up onto the table, her legs dangling delicately off the side. It felt evocative of the last time she'd had a physical done at the doctors; unpleasant memories of the poking, prodding, shots, and examinations of her personal private parts. It made her feel very nervous, like a child dreading that flu shot. It was all for the best that Fixit was no doctor and this was certainly no hospice that anyone would willingly subject themselves to.

She made and abridged recounting of the reasons why she agreed to this in the first place. It didn't help settle the anxiety.

"Lay down." Fixit instructed bluntly.

As her back settled against the cold unyielding surface she could feel the layer of grit brush against her skin; her clothes too thin to provide a respite against the texture of sandpaper. Imperceptibly at first she began to feel a growing vibration below the table and a sound very much of a small engine sputtering into an unwilling life. Concurrently, Fixit stood over her examining her body, for what she was not sure, and seemed to be waiting for something to begin.

She had the dreaded feeling of a lab rat about to be dissected, dismembered, and scrutinized in the name of science or for unknown viscerally malicious reasons. For the second time she reminded herself of why she was doing this, but it had quickly lost all appeal.

Propping herself up she was ready to amend her earlier decision before a blur of movement forced her attention away. An instantaneous eruption from the underside of the table as black snake-like tendrils sped up like bullets, arcing through the air before wrapping themselves forcefully over her entire body, arms, and legs. Raven let out a strangled yelp of surprise as her head slammed against the table, causing her vision to spin and the crunch of bone against metal to pulsate worryingly in her ears. The belts tightened, shaping themselves to the curves of her body, pinning her down.

"What is this?" Raven the pressure making night impossible to breath. Stars danced and played in her eyes and her head felt full of cotton.

"It is to prevent injury caused by uncontrolled physical convulsion." Fixit roughly grabbed her head and turned it, forced it, so that she was looking straight up at the ceiling. "Be calm and it will all be over soon."

There was a clattering of metal and machinery as a square shaped apparatus of clamps and tubes closed in around her head. Cold metal panels encircled her head, tightened down, and clamped her head in a vice like grip, preventing any lateral movement whatsoever. She was helpless, completely and absolutely.

She breathed in rapid gasps and grunts as she desperately tried to break her bonds, the friction against her restrains was already causing her thin clothes to fray.

Her head held firmly in the apparatus, Fixit now lowered his right arm over her face and with her head held in an inescapable skyward stare it became the only thing she could see. Fixit pulled back the sleeve of his robe to reveal his arm, an unnaturally sleek limb of pure, unsegmented, armor. Its unnaturally polished surface reflected light in all directions.

There was a hiss of released pressure and an opening appeared on the otherwise flawless surface. Raven couldn't see what was inside his arm but that didn't concern her as much as what was coming out of it. She watched as a duo of thin threads emerged from the inside. The white transparent filaments seemed to glow with an internal light. Fiber optic tubes that each ended in a fine but blunt point.

Closing her eyes was futile as the apparatus used clamps to hold her eyelids open, far wider than she was even capable of. Tears formed as the air was quickly drying here eyes out and she felt the irrepressible urge to blink, but it was impossible. She saw her vision distort as the small fiber optic tubes pushed against her eyes, moving her cornea, artificially bending it inwards. A little further and she feared they would push right through.

Tears were running like rivers down here cheeks. She wanted to protest, but the pressure on her chest was slowly squeezing the life out of her.

A click,

The dry sound of air gun and a feeling of hot agony was shot into her eyes and ran through to the back of her skull. Her world turned white hot as the pain engulfing her whole head in a sensation of. She gasped for air, her lung begging for reprieve, and somehow she forced through a choked scream of agony and terror that was soon suppressed as the prison bands continued to asphyxiate her. She struggled violently against its unmovable bindings her skin burning from the friction.

She lost sense of how long it'd been, but after a tortuous eternity the pain began to, slowly at first, diminish. The clamps were released allowing Raven to blink, the water in her tears hydrating her dried out pupils aiding to dull the pain further. The blinding white hot light was dissipating in tune with the discomfort and as her vision returned she allowed herself a momentary instant to relax, slightly. To her comforted joy her eyes were still in their sockets and were working, to her disbelief, better and clearer then ever before. The room was brighter, objects more defined, and textures crisp in their detail. It didn't seem that the level of illumination from the lamps had changed therefore; she concluded, it must be a side effect caused by the nanos.

"The process is complete." Fixit proclaimed. Instantly the restraints were removed and the apparatus released. The musty air was sweet candy as Raven breathed it in deeply. She quickly rose up into a sitting position and used the excess momentum to roll off of the surgical table.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" Raven shouted. Yet Fixit ignored her, instead he held up a mirror so that Raven could judge for herself the changes he had made.

Anger was replaced with curiosity and skepticism as she peered at this unknown reflection. The deep violet hues of her eyes and hair were gone. This new person she saw in the mirror had never existed until mere seconds ago. Sapphire blue eyes reflected her incredulity as she contemplated dark hazel brown hair, moving her fingers through the smooth strands it to see if it really belonged to her.

She pulled her hair back, to see what she would look like in a ponytail, before releasing it again.

"I trust it is to your satisfaction?" Fixit said

"I didn't do this because I wanted to. I don't like it at all, its not me." Raven said as she tried imagining herself with shorter hair. She wondered, when did she become so critical of her looks? She'd never been so concerned before. She wasn't even sure how to react to this new development.

Fixit propped the mirror against some equipment and moved off to the side where he extracted a dirty laptop computer. Opening it he placed it on a shelf and began to type vigorously while Raven continued to self-inspect her newly discovered sense of self.

"You will be under my direct supervision," Fixit said, "The status of the individual known as Raven will remain unknown. You are not to identify yourself as, nor discuss a possible relationship with the individual known as Raven. You will not disclose that you now or ever have an affiliation with the division known as the Teen Titans or even a previous livelihood within the borders of Jump City."

"What are you my lawyer now?" Raven continued her examination

I will," Fixit continued, "grant you full access to any supplied you desire under the guise of a new identity as one accommodated under my employment. This will require the input of a new file into the systems personnel file database with a name, background, and catalog of specific duties that you will be tasked to perform."

"I have already decided on my name." She averted herself away from the mirror unable to look at herself any longer. She took a deep breath and Fixit awaited her answer, fingers hovering over the keyboard in anticipation.

She had to suppress the urge for a last minute change. Part of her wanted to say something exotic like the name of a character from Shakespeare or any play by Sophocles, as it would be out of place and draw unwanted attention. On the other hand it couldn't be a common, John Smith, moniker either. It had to have a meaning to it even if she would be the only one to understand its relevance.

So Raven buckled down and stood tall, with a voice as calm as she'd ever mustered before, announced to Fixit a new name, her new identity, hers alone for the foreseeable future.

"Rachel Robinson"

The transformation was complete.


End file.
